STORY CITY — A perfect outing from Cael Faber and a big night from Peyton Jeter at the plate propelled No. 2 Roland-Story to a decisive 10-0 victory over Greene County in the Class 2A District 4 semifinals on July 7 at Norsemen Field.
Faber retired all 15 batters he faced. He finished the game with seven strikeouts to help Roland-Story rack up its school-record 35th win of the season in improving to 35-3.
“It’s all about setting the tone and trusting my defense,” said Faber. “Braden (Wallace) made some really nice plays, Reece (Blaisdell) made some really nice plays and they just gave me the confidence to go down and do my thing.”
Faber forced two flyouts and he had one strikeout in the first inning. He forced a lineout and a ground out while adding another strikeout in the second.
The senior hurler struck out the side in the third inning, and he forced one line out and two groundouts in the fourth. Faber wrapped up his shortened night by getting two strikeouts and a groundout in the top of the fifth.
Roland-Story gave Faber all the run support he needed in the bottom of the second inning. The Norsemen scored five runs when Wallace, Derek Acevedo, Gavin Jeter hit consecutive RBI doubles and Ayden Frey and Faber each drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Jeter added a two-run single in the second inning to give Roland-Story three RBIs from the No. 8 spot in the batting order.
“It’s just my approach,” said Jeter. “Seeing a fastball in and a curveball up. Seeing if it’s hanging and swinging.”
Acevedo drove in another run in the bottom of the fourth, and Colin Willis hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on account of the 10-run mercy rule.
Roland-Story finished the game with nine hits on offense. Jeter, Willis and Cooper Triggs each had two hits and Wallace, Acevedo and Frey one apiece for the Norsemen.
Jaxson Everist took the loss for Greene County after giving up five earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and walk apiece in two innings. The Rams finished with a 4-18 record.
Roland-Story will face off against Ogden (14-17) in the 2A District 4 championship game on July 11 back at Norsemen Field in Story City. The Bulldogs were a 6-5 upset winner over I-35 in the other 2A District 4 semifinal game at Story City earlier on July 7.
“We’ll start that process tomorrow,” said Roland-Story coach Chris Hill. “We’ll practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Upsets happen. Baseball is a tough game, so you’ve got to stay good with the things that you can control.”
Roland-Story knows it must be focused from the opening pitch to the final out in every game from here on out if it wants to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2015.
“Strike one is really important for us on the mound, and making plays behind our pitcher,” Hill said. “If we can be consistent with that, we’ll give ourselves a good shot.”
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Cael Faber’s perfect gem helps 2A No. 2 Norse roll in district opener
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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By Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune | USA TODAY Network
