Janesville's losing streak in American Legion baseball runs to six games after pair of losses Saturday

Janesville mustered just six hits in two games and allowed multirun homers to both its opponents Saturday in losing 6-0 to Beloit and 5-3 to Oconomowoc in Fort Atkinson's American Legion baseball tournament.

The losses were No. 5 and 6 in Post 205's current skid.

"I told the guys that hopefully the breaks that aren't going our way right now will start going our way at the right time of the season," Janesville coach Kerry Michaels said.

Beloit's Carston Jacobson stole the show in the matchup between the Rock County rivals, belting a two-run home run in the third inning and pitching six shutout innings with five strikeouts.

The Bandits grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first, and both runs came with two outs in the inning after Janesville turned a double play. It was Jacobson, in fact, who produced the game's first run with an RBI base hit after the double play, and Beloit added on by scoring on a wild pitch.

The top of the third started with Janesville starter Blake Bowditch hitting Andy Buckley with a pitch and the lefty Bowditch picking Buckley off of first for the first out.

But Brody Berg took a four-pitch walk, and Jacobson batted next and slugged his two-run shot out to right field at Jones Park in Fort.

In Saturday's second game, Oconomowoc also hit its homer, a three-run blast, in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. Donovan Hatch started the game for Post 205 and got the first Oconomowoc batter to pop out in the third.

He struck out the next hitter he faced, but Mason Schmidt reached on a passed ball on the third strike to get on base. Belawski, who had three hits in the game, singled behind Schmidt, and then Bradyn Nelson drilled the first pitch of his at-bat over the left-field wall.

Janesville (6-9-1) showed a little life in the top of the sixth against Oconomowoc, loading the bases with one out on two walks and a single by Charlie Kober. After a strikeout for out No. 2, Landon Keller reached on an error that allowed two runs to score, cutting Janesville's deficit in half from 4-0 to 4-2.

Belawski got one of those runs back, however, with a run-scoring hit. In the top of the seventh, Brett Appel drove in a run when he punched a ball through the right side of the infield to score Logan Hanson, who walked to lead off the inning.

Oconomowoc starting pitcher Bryan walked six batters in his six innings of work, but Janesville couldn't capitalize until the run-scoring error in the sixth.

"As a team, we've got to start coming through when we have the opportunities, and I really feel like that's going to happen," Michaels said.

Post 205's final game in the weekend tournament will be played at 1:45 p.m. Sunday against Hartland back at Jones Park.

FIRST GAME SATURDAY

BELOIT 6, JANESVILLE 0

Beloit;202;110;0;—;6;11;0

Janesville;000;000;0;—;0;3;1

Leading hitters — Piccione (B) 2x4, Buckley (B) 2x3, Jacobson (B) 2x3, Mitchell (B) 2x3, Frye (B) 2x4. HR — Jacobson (B).

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — J: Bowditch L, 4-10-6-6-3-4; Stowell 3-1-0-0-0-1. B: Jacobson W, 6-3-0-0-2-5; Stuessy 1-0-0-0-0-1.

SECOND GAME SATURDAY

OCONOMOWOC 5, JANESVILLE 3

Janesville;000;002;1;—;3;3;1

Oconomowoc;013;001;X;—;5;10;2

Leading hitters — Kober (J) 2x3, Belawski (O) 3x4, Nelson (O) 2x4, Schultz (O) 3x3. HR — Nelson (O).

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — J: Hatch L, 5-8-4-2-3-2; Hobon 1-2-1-1-0-0. O: Bryan W, 6-2-2-0-6-5; Nelson 1-1-1-1-1-1.