Baseball: Western ends Dow’s season with 7-0 win

by Jason Wolverton

Chad Jasman helped end Midland High’s season on Tuesday.

Four days later, he turned the same trick against Midland Dow.

Jasman allowed only one hit and struck out five in six innings of work Saturday as Bay City Western halted the Chargers’ season with a 7-0 shutout win in the second round of district play in Auburn.

The senior right hander pitched a complete game 4-hitter against the Chemics in the opening round of districts earlier in the week and was even stronger against Dow, as a second-inning Michael Allen single was the only blemish on his final line.

“We had no aggressive at-bats against Jasman,” said Dow coach Kip Harris. “He’s a good pitcher. We took a lot of strikes and when you do that you’re going to struggle to have success.”

And struggle the Chargers did. They would put only five men on base all game – one of which was erased on a double play, another was caught stealing in the seventh with the game already in hand.

“If you get a lead off guy on, you can do some things,” Harris said. “But when there’s two outs and you finally get a guy on it gives you few options.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors had plenty of options early as Dow struggled out of the gates. Sean Hartman started for the Chargers and hit Taylor Rosenbrock to lead off the game. Paul Ramseyer followed by laying down a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt which turned into a hit when the Chargers were unable to cover first in time. Alex Kravat followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt of his own, but the throw to first hit him in the back to load the bases. Hartman then hit Jasman to force in the game’s first run. The Warriors added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 2-0.

Hartman settled down after that, setting down the side in order in the second and retiring the first two hitters he faced in the third. But Jasman singled with two outs, advanced to third on a single with a throwing error, and then stole home when KC Kleaver stole second. Austin Clarey doubled in a run and Steve Meyer singled in another to increase the lead to 5-0.

“I think it was pretty much a summary of our season today,” Harris said of the Chargers’ rocky start. “I don’t think Sean was as good as he’s been, but he wasn’t that bad. We [just missed some plays].”

Meanwhile, Jasman was business as usual in attacking the strike zone against Dow’s hitters. He was able to induce 12 ground ball outs, and Allen’s single was the only ball that reached the outfield off him in the first six innings. Nate Richard’s sharp line out to right off Skyler Skrzypzcak in the seventh was the only outfield putout for Western and Dow’s hardest hit ball of the day.

The only time the Chargers really threatened in the game was in the second when Allen and Richard reached to start the inning and advanced on a sac bunt. But Jasman got a ground ball and a strike out to get out of the jam.

Hartman took the loss for Dow, allowing six hits in six innings with three strike outs. The Warriors scored their sixth run off him in the sixth on a sac fly off the bat of Paul Schuhmacher. Jasman singled in a run off Andy Best in the seventh to round out the scoring for Western.

Dow’s season ends sooner than last, when they beat Midland High to win the district championship. The Chargers graduated a wealth of talent from that team, and Harris said this year’s squad probably exceeded some expectations because of that.

“We lost a lot from last year,” Harris said. “There were a lot of people who expected us to struggle this year and at times we did. But at times it looked like we didn’t miss a lot of things.”

Ultimately, Harris said it seemed like this season you could flip a coin to determine whether his young team would come out sharp or flat. Saturday, the coin flip went Western’s way.

“We were a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team all year,” he said. “And Hyde showed up today.”