Central baseball team defeats Jackson 4-2 in SEMO Conference play

Central baseball coach Steve Williams didn't know if center fielder Christian Cavaness had a chance to throw out Jackson's Trent Wills at the plate in bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday.

"I knew he was going to try," Williams said. "Whether or not he had a chance, I couldn't tell because I knew it was going to be close and I knew it'd have to go in the air all the way. But the thing is it wasn't a big, high lollipop. It was low and hard and it carried all the way to Ryan. Once it got about halfway, I knew we had a chance."

Cavaness' strike arrived from shallow center just in time for catcher Ryan Siebert to tag out Wills for the third out of the inning. The Indians would have been three outs away from a win had the throw been offline, but Central instead rallied to a 4-2 SEMO Conference victory in eight innings at Jackson.

"The Cavaness kid's a very good athlete, and he closed on the ball extremely well and made a good throw," Jackson coach Tatum Kitchen said. "Honestly, probably any other center fielder around we win the game, but he closed on it very quick and he made a very good throw."

Cavaness later reached on an error in the top of the eighth inning and scored the go-ahead run on Siebert's slow-rolling single up the middle.

Central pitcher Aaron Wendel throws a strike to Jackson leadoff hitter Laban Petzoldt during Tuesday's game.

"I was down in the count just trying to put the ball in play, just get a base hit," Siebert said. "Anything I could do to help the team. My main focus was hit it hard, put it in play and make the defense work."

Central's Thomas Crocetti followed with another hit up the middle to give Central a 4-2 advantage.

All four Central runs were unearned. The Tigers scored when a balk was called in the first inning, and they added another run in the fifth when Vance Toole reached on one error and scored on another. After Cavaness reached on an error, Luke Hinkebein was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on Crocetti's hit.

"It was huge," Siebert said when asked about Central's ability to capitalize on Jackson's miscues. "It made the ballgame. It made the difference."

Jackson starter Alex Bolen gave up just three hits in his six innings of work.

Jackson junior Kyle James rounds third base on his way home after a two-run double by Clay Mackee during Tuesday's game at Whitey Herzog Stadium in Jackson. (ADAM VOGLER)

"Pitching-wise we did very well," Kitchen said. "We should've won probably 2-1 if we played a little bit of defense, but we made some mistakes. Cape capitalized and beat us.

"He threw very well. We're very, very pleased with him. I know he wanted to keep going. The thing was we had him at 95 or 96 pitches, so we're going to have to have him come back maybe on Saturday. We didn't want to get too far this early in the year, so once he got over 80, we were kind of iffy."

Bolen struck out 10 batters and did not issue a walk while surrendering two unearned runs.

"We didn't get good swings on him, and our hitters told us that," Williams said. "His ball was moving. He's got a good breaking pitch, an offspeed pitch and he's a tough guy to hit. You get that every time you play in this conference. That's what prepares all of our teams for the end of the season, and Alex is no exception to that. He did a great job, and kind of like our guys at times this year, he deserved a better fate."

A Jackson runner reached base in every inning except the seventh, and the Indians outhit Central 9-5.

"Hitting at the plate, we just left way too many men on, but I give their pitchers credit," Kitchen said. "They made big pitches. Defensively they made plays when they needed them. Like I said, we just made mistakes and just didn't play very well. I think a lot of that goes to Cape. Their pitchers made big pitches and got big outs."

The Indians stranded 11 runners, including eight in the five innings Central starter Aaron Wendel pitched.

"I'd rather not pitch with runners on base obviously, but it's part of the game, so I just had to work through it," Wendel said.

Wendel allowed both Jackson runs in the second on Cody Harris' double. The Indians loaded the bases with one out in the third inning before Wendel struck out Harris and got Wills to fly out to center to end the inning.

"I told him when you look back, you won't say this is one of your best outings, but it really is because of the way you battled and the way you gave us a chance," Williams said. "If he gives up five, it's a different game. But he gives up a couple and he battles out of a couple jams and all of the sudden now we have a chance in the last half of the game."

Wendel was relieved by sophomore Matt Chism, who earned the win after allowing two hits over three scoreless innings.

Central improved to 2-2 and 1-1 in conference play. Jackson, which was playing its first conference game, dropped to 1-2.

Central 100 010 02 -- 4 5 2

Jackson 020 000 00 -- 2 9 3

WP -- Matt Chism. LP -- Adam James. 2B -- Ramsey Scott (C), Alex Bolen (J), Kyle James (J). Multiple hits -- Central: Scott 2-4, Ryan Siebert 2-4; Jackson: K. James 3-4. Records -- Central 2-2, Jackson 1-2.