NAPLES – Barron Collier senior pitcher Drew Jackson felt the best he had all season on the mound Tuesday night, and that was bad news for the Mariner Tritons in the Region 4A-3 quarterfinals Tuesday night.

Jackson allowed just three hits in a complete-game shutout as the Cougars topped the Tritons 7-0 to avenge a 9-8 loss to the Tritons in last year’s regional quarterfinal.

Barron Collier (20-8) hosts Estero (26-2) in the Region 4A-3 semifinal Friday night.

“I just felt like everything was working tonight,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t planning on throwing hard at all. I just wanted to hit my spots and get out of innings as quickly as possible.”

The Cougars scored all of their runs in the first three innings.

Brendan Long drove in Gary Trapani in the bottom of the first in what proved to be the game-winning run.

The Tritons (20-9) had the Cougars retired 1-2-3 in the second inning, but Wes Juarbe wound up reaching base on an error that kept the inning alive.

After loading the bases, Zach Tillery made the Tritons pay when he ripped a three-run double to put the Cougars up 4-0 heading into the third inning.

“It was a monster hit,” Collier coach Dan Maurer said. “Tillery is the guy we wanted up. He did what he has been doing all year long. He is a man-child.”

The Cougars scored three more runs in the third after their first five hitters reached base. The seven runs was more than enough for Jackson, who will pitch at Stetson next season. Jackson struck out at least one batter in every inning for a total of eight.

The Tritons had just one base runner reach third base in the game.

The Tritons did not get their first hit until the fifth inning on a leadoff double by Jason Carmichael. A single followed, but the inning ended with a strikeout and a double play.

The Tritons got another leadoff double in the sixth inning by Walter Cleary, but failed to score on a groundout and two strikeouts.

“We didn’t give ourselves enough chances early in this game,” Tritons coach Steve Larsen said. “When we leave men on base in the last few innings, we give ourselves no chance at a comeback.”

The Tritons closed out the season with back-to-back shutout losses. Their second season-best six-game winning streak was snapped in a 10-0 District 4A-11 championship game loss to Estero on Friday night.

Mariner000 000 0 – 0 3 3

Barron Collier133 000 x – 7 9 0

W – D. Jackson. L – Gubelman (6-3).

2B – Carmichael (M), Cleary (M), Tillery (BC), Jackson (BC).

Sports editor Jim Linette contributed to this report