James River pitcher Daniel Marrs held Hanover scoreless through six and one third innings, then Austin Stadler came to the mound closed out the game to give the Rapids a 4-0 regional quarterfinal win over the Hawks.

James River head coach Pete Shumacher was proud of Marrs performance. “I’m not only impressed with how he pitched today, I’m impressed with how he’s carried himself this year,” Schumacher said . He’s a team captain for us. He’s a leader. He told the guys out there he’s proud to be on this team.”

Hanover’s Jacob Mayers threw an outstanding game from the mound but the Rapids jumped on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning. James River then played stiff defense to keep the tally one-sided.  Against Marrs strong arm, Hanover was limited to four hits on the game and never seriously threatened the Rapids.

“It was a tough loss,” said Hanover coach Charlie Dragum. “James River outplayed us in pretty well every aspect of the game. Jacob threw the ball real well, but they did not crack. We hit some balls hard and they made big plays with guys on base. The kid Marrs threw a great game.”

Though his team gave up four runs to the Rapids, Dragum felt his defense played well. He could not say the same for his team’s offensive production. “The problem isn’t the four on the board, it’s the zero on the board, that’s the problem,” he said. :That has a lot with their defense and how Daniel Marrs threw the ball. He threw the heck out of it.”

Schumacher has nothing but respect for the Hawks following the game. “They’re a great baseball team,” he said. “They’re very well coach. We really respected them. We respected the season they had. We came in and you saw we played a lot of small ball. We knew the runs were going to matter today. Their pitcher (Mayers) is outstanding. I don’t know how many strikeouts he had today, I mean he’s outstanding. I think they’re a great team. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in.”

James River advances to play the winner of the Patrick Henry- Thomas Dale game at RF & P Park on Thursday, May 29 at 5 p.m.