The Ottawa baseball team had limited success against Metamora pitcher Mason Sauder in Saturday’s Class 3A Metamora Regional championship game.

The Redbirds senior righthander allowed just three hits, one unearned run, with one walk and eight strikeouts in an 89-pitch complete game effort.

At the plate the hosts used a four-run second inning to take control, then added a back-breaking five-run sixth in an eventual 9-1 victory over the Pirates at Al Mulberry Field.

“We knew coming in that [Sauder] is a competitor,” Ottawa coach Levi Ericson said, his squad finishing the season at 19-13-1. “With his [velocity] he’s not going to overpower you, but he is going to come after you and say, ‘I’m better’ and he was today. This time of year, it’s the best team on that given day that moves on and with him on the mound they were the better team.”

Sauder had a pair of streaks where he retired eight batters in a row.

“He’s a two-year all-conference player in the Mid-Illini which we feel is a pretty good league,” Metamora coach Tony Riddle said. “With his velo and spin rate he’s not going to wow you watching a bullpen session, but that kid knows how to pitch and how to get outs. He works ahead in the count, pitches with pace and moves the ball around. He has conviction in his ability, and it shows when he’s on the mound.”

In the second, Metamora loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a hit batsman against Ottawa starter Lucas Farabaugh (loss, 2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). Leadoff man Stephen Petri then hit a flare just beyond third to score the game’s opening run, before Sauder drew an RBI walk and Cole Smith followed with a two-run base hit to left to make it 4-0.

“Lucas was able to pitch around a leadoff walk in the first, but falling behind allowed them a couple hits there in the second to load up the bases with two outs,” Ericson said. “Then he made the pitch we wanted him to make, and they get a handle shot base hit over third to score a run. We then thought we had a pickoff at first, didn’t get the call, and they ended up tacking on three more.”

Ottawa scored its lone run of the game in the third. With two outs, Rory Moore singled to left, Adam Swanson reached on an error and Colt Bryson poked the first of his two singles in the game to right center to score Moore from second.

Junior lefty Jack Carroll came on to pitch for the Pirates and retired all nine of the hitters he faced, two via strikeout, in the third, fourth and fifth.

“[Carroll] has been hurt all year so that was only his third, fourth and fifth innings of the season,” Ericson said. “He really showed why were excited to see what he can do next year. He came in and shut the door for us, but we just weren’t able to get anything going with the bats.

Metamora exploded for five runs on five hits in the sixth, four off Jake Torres and a single tally off Bryson.

Sauder retired the side in order in the top of the seventh, including a called third strike ending the game.

“I thought the first two innings, especially in the second, we did a great job of working the count and put together really good at-bats,” Riddle said. “In the second, and then again in the sixth, the guys really battled at the plate and didn’t miss when they got their pitch to hit.

“We really weren’t expecting to see [Carroll], but he came in and shut us down. I don’t think we were able to barrel up one ball against him. He did a really nice job for them today.”

While Saturday’s outcome was tough, Ericson said this year’s team has so much to be proud of.

“We had an amazing season,” Ericson said. “Winning a conference championship for the first time since 2013, the most wins since that season, and just a win short of 20 wins. The program is heading in the right direction for sure, and that’s a credit to our players making that happen.”