ADAMS — Nate Matteson and his South Jefferson baseball teammates have been waiting for this opportunity for a year.

After losing a home game in sectionals last season, this time Matteson and the Spartans delivered a breakthrough victory.

Matteson was dominant on the mound and at the plate to back third-seeded South Jefferson to a 5-0 triumph over sixth-seeded Mexico on Thursday in a Section Class A quarterfinal on the Spartans’ turf field.

Matteson fired a complete-game shutout and also totaled three hits, including a two-run home run to pace South Jefferson.

“It felt good, because I’ve been here since my freshman year and that team was special,” Matteson said. “So it’s a really special feeling finally getting here and now we’ll see what we can do.”

The Spartans (14-6) advanced to play second-seeded New Hartford in a semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Onondaga Community College.

In a gutsy effort, Matteson struck out 13 batters, scattering four hits and walking two in recording the win.

“He’s just a bulldog out there for us,” South Jefferson coach Kyle Peters said. “He’s just so steady and determined to get the job done.”

“For some reason when I keep going, I feel like I keep throwing harder,” Matteson, a senior right-hander, said. “I start off just throwing my hardest and then I keep pitching harder and harder. It really feels good, especially once I was throwing strikes, they started putting the ball in play and our guys made some really good plays, Billy (Winchester) and Drew (Peters) made some incredible plays to help me out.”

South Jefferson also avenged a loss to Mexico last year in the same round when it squandered a late lead, also on its home field.

“It feels so great, it’s such a great redemption,” Winchester, a senior who plays in the outfield, said. “We haven’t been to the semifinals in a while, I don’t think there’s a better feeling than this, honestly.”

“It feels like a big comeback,” Matteson said. “We had them circled, we wanted them. So we handled business, had good practices this week and really came for them. We wanted this one, this is a big win for us.”

The Spartans broke through at the plate by scoring three runs in the fourth inning and plated two more in the fifth.

“That was a great finish for us,” coach Peters said. “It’s good to see the boys grind it out and get a big win like this. It was just a great team win.”

“It felt good, because we’re not known to be one of the best sectional teams, we always fall apart, especially in the quarterfinals,” Matteson said. “But I knew it was only going to take one (run) and then it was going to break open, it was pretty good.”

Winchester sped his way to a leadoff double and Matteson singled on the next pitch, then stole second base. After Drew Peters walked to load the bases, Russell Hazard Jr. drove in the first run on a groundout to second base.

Collin Porter then stroked a two-run single to center field to extend the advantage to 3-0.

“Breaking through, it felt really uplifting,” Winchester said. “Once we did it, it felt like our whole team morale just went through the roof and from that point on, it felt like we were just rolling, we had momentum and we were ready for anything.”

Then in the fifth, Winchester drew a two-out walk and Matteson followed by belting a two-run home run to right field, with the Mexico right fielder crashing into the fence.

“Luckily this year, we did what we needed to do,” coach Peters said. “We were the first to score in the game, it took us a while in the fourth inning and we pushed those three runs across. A huge hit by Collin Porter driving in those runs.

“Our bats came alive when they needed to, we had some great two-out hitting, I’m very proud.”

Meanwhile, Matteson worked out of trouble early on as Mexico got the leadoff man on base in three of the first four innings.

“Early, I couldn’t really hit my spots, I wasn’t hitting the strike zone as much as I wanted to,” said Matteson, who threw 120 pitches. “But I kept dogging it out out there and figured it out, and mowed them down.”

Matteson finished strong and retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced, striking out the side in the ninth to complete the victory.

“He’s our stud, he’s our star,” Winchester said. “He just does what he does, he does that every time, we trust him on the mound, we trust him in the box. He’s a keystone player on this team.”

Matteson outdueled Mexico starter Carson Race, who allowed all five runs on five hits and four walks, striking out seven over 4 2/3 innings.

South Jefferson moves on to play in a sectional semifinal for the first time since 2021.

‘When I was a freshman we were undefeated, we hadn’t lost a game and we fell short in a sectional semifinal,” Matteson said. “But this is a special team, we want it, we’re hungry, I think we’re going to take a good crack at New Hartford.”

The Spartans defeated New Hartford, 6-1, earlier this season in the Camden Tournament on May 9.

“We’re enjoying what we’ve accomplished so far and we believe the job’s not done,” coach Peters said. “We’re finally getting down to OCC, so we’ve got a great opportunity.”