Janssen leads Cooper Cougars into state playoffs

By LANCE FLEMING
Sports Writer

SAN ANGELO - The "real" Darin Janssen finally resurfaced Saturday afternoon, just in time to lead the Cooper Cougars into the state baseball playoffs.

The lanky lefthander, who struggled for most of the season, put together his most complete performance in almost a year to lead the Cougars to a 2-0 victory over San Angelo Central at Nathan Donsky Field. The victory helped the Cougars clinch a playoff berth for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons.

The Cougars, 18-8 overall and 8-2 in district, still have the inside track on the District 4-5A title.

Midland Lee, which also won Saturday to earn a playoff spot, is one-half game back of Cooper at 8-3. Those two hook up Tuesday at Cougar Field.

Cooper's win also ensured that Abilene High can finish no worse than 7-5 and a tie for third place. That means the Eagles will play some sort of playoff game for the first time since the 1972 season.
Janssen, who pitched six-plus innings, gave up just four hits and walked three in running his district mark to 3-1. The Bobcats had just 19 official at-bats, meaning Jannssen faced only one batter over the minimum. He also lowered his district ERA from 3.62 to 2.82.

He helped his own cause by picking off three Central baserunners, one each in the second, third and fifth innings.

But it wasn't all Janssen.

Relief pitcher Kristian Allen entered the game with one on and none out in the seventh and closed out the Bobcats. The first man he faced, Trey Lunsford, sent a deep fly ball into the gap in right-center field that centerfielder Miles Durham tracked down and caught while on the seat of his pants.
Allen then coaxed a double-play ball out of Russell Frantz to end the game and send the Cougars into the playoffs.

"Our bats didn't work too well today (six hits), but the defense was outstanding," Janssen said. "And nobody is worried about our offense."

The Cougars have spent most of the season worrying about Janssen, who has struggled to regain the form that saw him post a 10-2 record as a junior in 1995. However, over the last couple of weeks he's been working his way back into shape and it all came together Saturday.

"It's taken a while," Janssen said. "I started slow, but I can feel it now. I feel like I did last year. I know where I'm throwing the ball now, and I feel like I can spot my pitches like I did last year."
And it's just in time for the Cougars.

"Darin was great all day," CHS head coach Jim Mavroulis said. "I'm so proud of him; I'm proud of all our guys. But Darin was great, and then Kristian came in and just blew it by them."

If Janssen had the Bobcats confused at the plate, he had them utterly dumbfounded on the bases.
After giving up a single to Jared Whitson to lead off the second inning, Julio Guerrero squared to bunt. But Janssen made a quick move to first and caught Whitson off the bag. From there, Michael Anderson threw down to shortstop Craft Hughes who put the tag on Whitson.

Blake Gilley led off the third with a walk, but was trapped the same way Whitson was trapped, ending another Central threat. And in the fifth, Frantz led off with a single, but was caught napping when Janssen snapped a quick throw to first. This time Anderson needed only to put the tag on Frantz, who seemed surprised that the Cooper first baseman had the ball.

After each pickoff, Janssen set the next two men down in order. The Bobcats, in fact, never had a runner get past second base, and only left one runner on base the entire game.

"I was surprised I got the first pickoff," Janssen said. "I was like 0 for 10 on pickoffs this year, then I come down here and get three in one game. It's nice when you walk somebody and then come back and get them on a pickoff."

If the pickoffs surprised Janssen, they left Central head coach Rod Moore thoroughly frustrated.
"Janssen's got a great move," Moore said. "Obviously there was something there that we just weren't seeing. We ran ourselves out of every inning."

Janssen got out of trouble in the first when CHS rightfielder Scott Harrison made a nice diving catch on a Lunsford pop, then doubled Jesse Martinez off at second to end the inning.

In all, the Cougars recorded two double plays and got three pickoffs to kill any Central rallies.
It's a good thing, too, because the Cooper offense struggled for most of the day against Central pitcher Jay Walling, who lost to fall to 1-4. However, Walling pitched well, allowing just six hits while walking two and striking out five.

"Walling did a fantastic job," CHS head coach Jim Mavroulis said. "He's been terrific or real bad all year, and today he was terrific. He's not overpowering, but he changes speeds and location extremely well."

Cooper, though, was able to scratch a couple of runs that would ultimately prove to be enough.
Harrison led off the third with a single, then moved to third on a single by Anderson. Durham then grounded out to second to drive in Harrison for a 1-0 Cooper lead.

Then with two outs in the fourth inning, Hughes continued his recent hot surge by homering to left field for a 2-0 lead. Since breaking an 0-for-14 slide last week, Hughes is 3 for 8 with three RBI, a homer and a double in his last three games.

Those two runs would stand the rest of the way as the Cougars did what they set out to do.

"We came down here to get a win and get into the playoffs," Janssen said.

And along the way, they rediscovered their ace.