CONVOY — Jefferson’s baseball team has been tearing the cover off the ball lately.

They didn’t do that Friday night but they got the job done in other ways, getting a 4-hitter from senior right-hander Mike Rahrig in shutting out Ottoville 10-0 in Division IV sectional-final action Friday night at the Crestview Sports Complex.

“I could tell from the start that Mike was determined and excited; he was on from the get-go. He wasn’t as effective with his fast ball as usual — it was up in the strike zone — but his breaking ball was,” Jefferson coach Troy Montenery explained. “He didn’t fall behind in the count a lot and that’s what makes for good pitching. When they got something going, he bore down even more and didn’t let them score.”

It helped that Rahrig (5-1) was strong in his complete game, walking two and fanning five in his 78-pitch effort (55 for strikes).

“That’s a good team and a good pitcher. We still had our chances but couldn’t come up with the big hit,” Big Green mentor Tony Castronova explained. “Even when we were down 5-0, we still had outhit — and I felt outplayed — them but had nothing to show for it. That’s the advantage of them having 10 seniors.”

David Wurst got aboard in the Ottoville top of the first on a 2-out error but he was left stranded.

Jefferson turned one of its two twin-killings in the second.

The Wildcats (15-4) got on the board in the bottom of the second against Big Green southpaw Jordan Schimmoeller (5-plus innings, 4 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned, 6 bases-on-balls, 7 Ks). Ryan Kortorkax walked and Aaron Schuerman was plunked. Both advanced on a passed ball. Matt Gerdeman grounded out to second to get Kortokrax home and Schuerman to third, from whence he scored on Taylor “T-Bone” Hesseling’s line drive to right-center.

Ottoville had its first big chance in the third. With one down, Aaron Wehri walked. Matt Niemeyer’s chopped one down the third-base line; third sacker Josh Miller hoped it would go foul but it hit the base for an infield single. Matt Honigford bounced out to second but Rahrig fanned Wurst to end the uprising.

Jefferson made it 5-0 in the home half. Cory Bastian (3 free passes) walked to lead it off but was erased on a grounder by Sean Fisher. He advanced on a groundout by Miller. Kortokrax got a free pass. Schuerman, usually batting left-handed but switched around to the right side, smoked a 3-run blast over the fence in left for a 5-0 lead. Gerdeman got aboard via an error but Hesseling flied out to deep center.

“It was a running joke that the only guy in our starting lineup that didn’t have a home run this season was Aaron — and he’s one of our better power hitters. He told me ‘finally’ as he rounded third,” Montenery relayed.

The Red and White loaded the bases in the fourth: a 1-out walk to Matt Antalis and stolen base; a free pass to Bastian; and a 2-out hit batter (Miller); but Kortokrax got caught looking at strike three.

The Green and Gold had another chance to rally in the fifth. With two down, Wehri lined a single to left and Niemeyer’s (2-for-3) knock to right-center put runners on the corners. However, Honigford bounced out to first baseman Fisher to keep the shutout.

Andrew Koch doubled to right-center with one down in the Ottoville sixth. Schimmoeller got aboard on an error to put runners on the corners but Landin’s ground ball up the gut to Schuerman started an inning-ending double play.

“We struggled a bit at the plate in the early going. We took time to adjust to the strike zone,” Montenery added. “We’re the type of offense that gets more comfortable at the plate the second and third time through the lineup. We didn’t necessarily have a lot of hits but we had more and more quality at-bats as the game wore on.”

The Wildcats put it away in the bottom half. Pinch-hitter Austin Clarkson slashed a hit to right and advanced on an error on a pickoff play. He went to third on a hit by Antalis. Bastian — what else? — walked to load them up and finish Schimmoeller’s night on the mound in favor of Honigford. Fisher bashed a 2-run single up the gut. Ottoville booted Miller’s ground ball to reload the bases. Kortokrax unloaded them with a double down the left-field line to end the game due to the 10-run “mercy” rule.

“Jordan pitched well but walks, hit batters and errors cost him. Matt came in and Kortokrax hit a ball that was up,” Castronova added. “It hurt that we didn’t have our normal catcher (Alex Odenweller, out with a broken ankle). I’m not saying he’d have made a huge different but he is a senior leader behind the plate. We’ll lose six pretty good seniors for next year. Overall, we played well this year.”

Ottoville finishes at 6-9.

Jefferson will play a regular-season Northwest Conference makeup game versus Ada at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Their tournament continues Wednesday at the Coldwater District when they face New Knoxville. Game time is 4:15 p.m.