Jackson pitchers benefit from hot bats

~ The hosts posted a 25-3 record during the regular season

Third baseman Ryan Bass laughs at the comparison in the level of pressure involved in playing at the Babe Ruth baseball state tournament and his experience at the Class 2 boys soccer final four in November.

"Compared to the shootout, this is zero," Bass said.

Bass boasts three state championship rings from his high school career at Notre Dame -- two from soccer and one from baseball. He said the most pressure he faced came during Notre Dame's state semifinal game against Helias, when it went to a shootout. He was charged with making the last penalty kick to continue the game, but he missed.

Now he'll try to add a state title in summer baseball when he and his Jackson teammates take the field for the state tournament beginning today.

"You're kind of expecting to win, expecting to have a big game," Bass said of his approach to pressure situations. "Your team expects it and you need to come through for them."

Jackson hosts the six-team double-elimination tournament at Jackson City Park. While Bass is the only Jackson player with a high school state championship, the hosts enter with a quiet confidence after going 25-3 during the regular season.

"It's really exciting for us, the home-field advantage," Jackson's Bryant Steffens said. "Hopefully we'll get a bunch of fans out here watching us and supporting us. Hopefully we can come out and win on our home turf."

Jackson coach Paul Sander plans to start Chris Roth in today's opener against Mineral Area. Roth went 4-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings this season. He served as the ace on Saxony Lutheran's team during the spring.

"Going into the tournament with Chris Roth on the mound, he's not going to give up more than three or four runs," Steffens said. "So the runs we have to manufacture are going to be the important runs."

Sander then plans to turn to Garrett Fritsche and Bryant Steffens. Fritsche is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA, and Steffens is 5-1 with a 2.21 ERA.

While Roth is more likely to collect strikeouts, Steffens tries to frustrate the opposition with a collection of offspeed pitches.

"There's a lot of teams that don't like the way I pitch," Steffens said. "I laugh at them. A lot of people on our team say they don't like to face me because of the way I pitch. I just throw a bunch of junk, and it usually works out for me."

Steffens even tosses a knuckleball, a pitch that few high school players regularly see.

"My grandfather threw it, and I just really learned it from him when I was little," he said. "Playing catch with my cousin, I would just throw it every day. It just worked itself into a knuckleball. It probably took me three years to get it down to be able to throw it.

"I have pretty good control. I don't really know where it's going to go all the time. I might hit a batter. It will depend. I just throw it and hopefully it goes in the strike zone."

Jackson's pitchers have benefited from an explosive offense. Fritsche leads the way with a .539 average, while Bass comes in at .508.

"We've been hitting well," Fritsche said. "There really only have been a couple games where we haven't hit at all. ... All through our lineup, we hit the ball solid. We're confident that even when we get to the bottom of the lineup, there's going to be production somewhere."

Second baseman Spencer Sander is batting .493 with 36 runs scored, while Roth enters with a .459 average and 38 runs scored.

The Jackson batters feasted on some lackluster pitching during the season and are excited to face better competition in the state tournament. Steffens said the increased competition will force the team to be more thoughtful during at-bats.

"I think we need to hit smart and get on base," he said. "When you have a runner on third and one out, make the hit to the right side to score the run."

And Fritsche said the better pitching will make for more enjoyable games.

"I really don't like these blowout games that we've been playing," he said. "I like playing better competition when it's close games because I think they're more fun. I think every team in the tournament is here for a reason, so they're all going to be good games and we should be ready."