BELOIT — The Beloit Senior Bandits had perfect timing in a 2-0 victory over Janesville on Friday night, right down to starting pitcher Ethan Halon completing the game a pitch shy of his 105 maximum.
The win at the Stateline Family YMCA Youth Sports Complex advanced the Bandits into a regional rematch with Milwaukee Post 426 where the magic ended with a 3-1 loss.
Milwaukee finished unbeaten in the regional and advanced to the AAA state tournament Tuesday in Wisconsin Rapids.
For Beloit (9-5), the season was short and the sweetest thing about it was the victory over Janesville.
“We had 10 games rained out,” shortstop Andy Buckley said. “Most of our schedule was against Janesville. I think we were tied 2-2 in the series with them going into this game so this lets us win it. That’s big for me as a senior.”
Buckley, who plans on playing baseball at UW-Whitewater, hit a one-out single in the third inning against Janesville and scored the Bandits’ first run. His hit was followed by singles by Carston Jacobson and Brooks Mitchell to load the bases. Buckley scored on a squeeze bunt by Brayden Ward.
Pfundheller followed with a single to left that scored Jacobson, but Mitchell was tagged out at the plate.
Halon made that 2-0 lead stand up with a four-hitter with three walks and seven strikeouts. He benefited from double plays that ended threats in the fourth and fifth innings. Halon started the first, fielding a hot shot from his counterpart, Christian Hobson, who fired to Buckley at second and he relayed to first baseman Jacobson.
In the fifth, Halon picked a grounder from Brett Appel and started DP No. 2 with another relay to Buckley and toss to Jacobson.
“Playing Janesville that many times was good for our defense,” Buckley said. “They’re consistent hitters so you have an idea where they’re going to hit it.”
Beloit didn’t commit an error in either game. Not bad for a team with so few opportunities to fine tune.
“With all the rain we lost the games and we weren’t able to schedule as many practices either,” Halon said. “We really had to go off of what game experience we could get. I feel like we still should have a whole month of games left.”
Halon headed into the seventh inning having thrown 89 pitches.
“I had 16 pitches to work with,” he said. “I figured I can do that. Having faced Janesville I knew where to attack and who to throw which pitches to.”
Halon struck out the first two batters and then got Nick Gregg to ground out to Buckley to end the game.
“Beating Janesville was a huge win,” Beloit head coach Brad Farrell said. “They’re a good team and (coach) Kerry (Michaels) does a wonderful job with them. Our defense was really good. No matter where the ball was being hit, we were making plays.”
That continued against Milwaukee, which ended up being a pitchers’ duel between Beloit’s Jacobson and left-hander Bradley Corcoran.
Beloit threatened right away with Brody Berg collecting a one-out single and stealing second, but being stranded there.
Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Luke Mattes singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Jacobson got the next batter to fly out, but after a wild pitch moved Mattes to third he scored on a single by Eli Boeck.
Milwaukee made it 2-0 in the third inning on an RBI single to right by Diego Sifuentes. Mattes added an RBI single in the fourth to make it a 3-0 lead.
Beloit got on the board in the fifth as Noah Pfundheller doubled to right, moved to third on a sacrifice by Owen West and scored on a groundout by Ward. But after collecting nine hits – three by Buckley – in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Milwaukee, this time the Bandits managed only three off Corcoran.
“He was the best we’ve seen, not that we’ve seen a lot,” Halon said. “He plays club ball for Iowa State.”
“He may be the best club pitcher ever,” Buckley said with a chuckle.
Corcoran went the distance with two walks and eight strikeouts. He retired the final five Bandits in order.
“We knew coming into today it was going to be tough playing back-to-back like that,” Farrell said. “It takes a lot out of you, but not one of them had their head down. We batted and just came up a little short. We lost 2-1 and 3-1 to them and both games were great baseball. That’s what it is all about.”
Farrell said he won’t be back as head coach.
“This was a great group of guys who played their hearts out,” he said.
• FRIDAY’S BOXSCORES:
BELOIT 2, JANESVILLE 0
Beloit;002;000;0;--;2;6;0
Janesville;000;000;0;--;0;4;0
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) – Piccione, cf, 4-0-0-0; Berg, c, 4-0-0-0; Buckley, ss, 3-1-1-0; Jacobson, 1b, 4-1-2-0; Mitchell, 2b, 3-0-2-0; Ward, dh, 3-0-0-1; Pfundheller, 3b, 2-0-1-1; Frey, lf, 1-0-0-0; Foss, rf, 2-0-0-0. Totals: 26-2-6-2.
JANESVILLE (ab-r-h-rbi) – Hanson, 1b, 2-0-0-0; Kober, ss, 2-0-1-0; Appel, c, 3-0-1-0; Horkan, 3b, 2-0-0-0; Hegle, lf, 3-0-0-0; Treinen, cf, 3-0-1-0; Keller, 2b, 3-0-1-0; Hobon, p, 1-0-0-0; Bowditch, p, 1-0-0-0; Gregg, rf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 23-0-4-0.
E: none. SB: Mitchell, Appel, Kober, Treinen.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Bel, Halon (W) 7.0-4-0-0-3-7. Janes, Hobon (L) 6.0-6-2-2-2-3; Bowditch 1.0-0-0-0-0-0.
HBP: Buckley, Frey, Hobon.
MILWAUKEE 3, BELOIT 1
Beloit;000;010;0;--;1;3;0
Milwaukee;101;100;x;--;3;8;1
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) – Piccione, cf, 3-0-0-0; Berg, c, 1-0-1-0; Buckley, ss, 3-0-0-0; Jacobson, p, 3-0-0-0; Mitchell, 2b, 3-0-0-0; Halon, 1b, 3-0-1-0; Pfundheller, 3b, 3-1-1-0; West, lf, 2-0-0-0; Ward, rf, 2-0-0-1. Totals:23-1-3-1.
MILWAUKEE (ab-r-h-rbi) – Mattes, 1b, 4-1-3-1; Schimmel, 2b, 1-1-1-0; Sifuentes, c, 3-0-1-1; Boeck, rf, 3-0-1-1; Corcoran, p, 3-0-0-0; Belott, ss, 2-0-0-0; Rechlitz, lf, 3-0-1-0; Giegerich, 3b, 2-0-1-0; Kohls, cf, 3-1-0-0. Totals: 24-3-8-3.
E: Mattes. 2B: Pfundheller, Schmmel. SB: Buckley, Berg, Kohls. CS: Mattes.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Bel, Jacobson (L) 6.0-8-3-3-2-5. Milw, Corcoran (W) 7.0-3-1-1-2-8.
WP: Jacobson 6, Corcoran. HBP: Jacobson.
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