Chaffee gets best of its bat and Jackson in district win

Tearing the cover off of a baseball is considered an omen.

At Jackson City Park on Wednesday, Nathan Seyer led off the game for Chaffee's Senior Legion with a broken-bat home run. That marked the third aluminum bat an Oran player has broken since the spring, with the previous two resulting in Oran victories.

Seyer's broken bat proved to be another omen and sparked a 6-5 win over Jackson in a district game. Chaffee's win evened its district record at 5-5, while Jackson fell to 3-7.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever done," Seyer said of his home run. "I was hoping it was gone because I was walking."

Chaffee, which has won five of its last six games, did not sit on its 1-0 lead. Seyer led off the third with a walk, and after Ryne Wood laid down his first of three sacrifice bunts Tyler Cookson drove Seyer home with an RBI single. Cookson advanced to second on a fielders choice and Trey Graviett followed with an RBI triple. Matt Seyer added an RBI single in the third to give Chaffee a 4-0 lead.

Tyler Profilet answered for Jackson in the bottom half of the third by shooting a fly ball over the centerfielder's head and legging it out for an inside-the-park home run. Profilet's three-run home run was one of the few big hits off of Chaffee starter Eric O'Hare, who went the full nine innings.

"His last two games, you just can't say enough about him," Chaffee assistant coach Larry Boshell said of O'Hare.

After the teams exploded in the third for three runs apiece, the defenses took over. Both teams played near-flawless defense, with Matt Seyer's diving stop in the seventh the highlight for Chaffee.

"We played great defensively," Boshell said. "We made the plays we should have made and a couple we shouldn't have."

Matt Seyer's diving play along with a base-running mistake by Kyle McMinn, who was trying to advance to third on a sharp grounder to the pitcher, highlighted a frustrating seventh inning for Jackson.

"We tried to take advantage of something that was not there," Jackson coach Mark Lewis said.

Jackson fought back throughout the game though, cutting the lead to one in the seventh on McMinn's double. Chaffee answered for the eventual game-winner in the eighth. Nathan Seyer led off with a walk and Wood once again sacrificed him to second. Cookson picked up the RBI with a double.

"I think that last run they scored really hurt," Lewis said.

Jackson rallied in the ninth and scored a run on another McMinn double with one out. O'Hare fought back to retire the next two runners to preserve the win.

"We just didn't come through with the hits when we needed it, and they did," Lewis said.

Cookson led Chaffee with a 2-for-4 performance with two RBIs. Nathan Seyer reached base four times with a home run and three walks. Nathan Seyer also scored three times. Joey Bickings also added two hits for Chaffee.

McMinn's two hits and two RBIs led Jackson.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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