Cape Central baseball team slays rival Jackson in district opener

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Freshman Chase Hagerty has pitched at the varsity level all season, so Central coach Steve Williams wasn't worried about sending him to the mound for the Tigers' district opener against Jackson.

And Hagerty wasn't worried about how he'd handle the spotlight once he found out he'd be making the start Saturday.

"I kind of knew for a while," Hagerty said. "Coach told me about a week ago so I could psyche myself up. This is just a great environment to be in -- rivalry against Jackson in districts. I couldn't ask for a better opportunity as a freshman. I'm going to take advantage of it every time."

And so he did.

Hagerty gave up just four hits in Central's 6-1 upset of the Indians in the Class 4 District 1 quarterfinal round.

Central's Christian Cavaness, left, celebrates with teammate Ramsey Scott after Cavaness scored when the ball got away from the pitcher during the fourth inning of a Class 4 District 1 quarterfinal Saturday in Sikeston, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

"I was ready," Hagerty said. "I've kind of been dreaming about it since the beginning of the season when I found out I made the varsity squad. I'm like, I want to be the one they call on. I want to be in this game, and I was ready."

The win was the second in as many years for Central over Jackson in district play.

"It's great," Central catcher Ryan Siebert said. "We've sent them home twice in back-to-back years. It's great."

The game did not get off to an ideal start for Central. Jackson ace Alex Bolen quickly retired the top of Central's lineup then the first two Jackson batters reached base on errors in the bottom half of the inning.

Hagerty made the second error when he failed to field a sacrifice bunt from Jackson's Cole Blanton.

Central's Vance Toole throws to first base after forcing out Jackson's Laban Petzoldt for a double play to end Saturday's game.

"I don't worry about him," Williams said. "I just worry that he's so hard on himself. He's in such a hurry to make a great play when he didn't have to, and that happens because he's young. But then he comes back and gets out of the inning with no runs, and that's the thing that he's capable of doing is finding a way to get out of that jam. That's a huge break for us right there."

Bolen flew out to center, which allowed a runner to advance to third, before Hagerty struck out Trent Wills for the second out. Then second baseman Luke Hinkebein, who made the other error in the inning, made a good play charging in on a high bouncing ground ball before throwing to first for the out.

"I was a little upset," Hagerty said about facing the situation. "Ryan helped me out. He came up and calmed me down.

"He calmed me down, the team backed me up and I knew right away that we were going to get out of this, no problem. I really did."

Jackson's Clay Baker reached base to start the bottom of the second inning and advanced to third with just one out, but Hagerty forced a pop out on the infield and a ground out to third to end the threat.

Jackson catcher Clay Macke talks with pitcher Alex Bolen during the sixth inning Saturday.

"The coach for Cape Central, who coached me of course, always said that at some point in the game you're going to have an opportunity to win," Jackson coach and Central alum Tatum Kitchen said. "And I guess that was ours early because we had it set up like that and did not get it, didn't get the opportune hits we needed."

Those missed opportunities were magnified when Central scored in the next inning.

"They had chances in the first and the second, and we got out of both of those innings and then scored three in the third," Williams said. "That really put the momentum on our side, and our kids really continued to play with the confidence they've gotten."

Bolen was charged with all six runs, the last of which came home to score after he exited the game with two outs in the sixth inning.

Six of Central's runs came via a different route. The first scored on a sacrifice fly by Siebert, and the next on an RBI single by Ramsey Scott after a contested call on Vance Toole's bunt single. The third scored on Bolen's balk.

Central pitcher Chase Hagerty delivers to a Jackson batter during the fourth inning Saturday.

Central added two runs in the fourth inning -- one on a bases-loaded walk a pitch after Bolen was visibly upset that he wasn't awarded a strike three call. Central center fielder Christian Cavaness then scored when a toss from Jackson catcher Clay Macke got away from Bolen.

The Tigers tacked on another run in the sixth when Cavaness scored on a wild pitch.

"We just didn't play well enough to win," Kitchen said. "That's the bottom line. Cape got some timely hits there and kind of some odd things happened in the game, but in the playoffs things change. Maybe the pressure got to us a little bit. I don't know. We didn't give up, we just didn't make enough plays to win."

Jackson loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth and Baker, the only Indians player to finish with multiple hits in the game, coming up to bat.

Baker ripped a 1-2 pitch to Toole at shortstop.

"He hits a one-hop shot in the hole, I'm thinking, 'Can they handle it?,'" Kitchen said. "And then, 'OK can they get the ball to second?' And then, 'Will he be safe at first?' Well they did all three."

Toole started a 6-4-3 double play that drew a celebration from everyone wearing a Central uniform.

"He likes to pull the ball," Siebert said about Baker. "Tried to keep the ball away from him, tried to get him to roll over on one and get us a ground ball, and I believe we did and got a double play out of it. I mean, he hit it hard."

The Tigers turned another double play to finish their victory.

"It's not one thing that got us beat," Kitchen said. "We just played an average game, and that's not good enough. Not in the playoffs."

Jackson finished the season 11-13, while Central won its fifth consecutive game to improve to 9-14 this season. It will face No. 7 seed De Soto, which upset No. 2 Sikeston, at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

"Our kids really played well today," Williams said. "We turned two double plays. Chase pitched a great ballgame. We had good at-bats with men on base. We executed sacrifice bunts two or three times to move runners, and then we cashed in when we had a chance. That's high school baseball.

"You've got to do that, and you've got to play solid defense. We did today. Our kids have been doing that the last two to three weeks now, and we're playing our best baseball right now."

Central 003 201 0 -- 6 8 4

Jackson 000 001 0 -- 1 4 2

WP -- Chase Hagerty. LP -- Alex Bolen. Multiple hits -- Central: Christian Cavaness 2-4, Vance Toole 3-4; Jackson: Clay Baker 2-3. Records -- Central 9-14, Jackson 11-13.