Don't look now, but No. 8-seed Sikeston is a real threat in SEMO play

Just over a week ago, the Sikeston High School varsity baseball squad endured a three-hit demolition at the hands of Marion (Ill.), as the Bulldogs fell 17-0 in three innings.

The defeat was the 13th in as many games for second-year coach Wyatt Pratt’s kids, and no one was envisioning the Bulldogs causing any issues in the upcoming SEMO Conference Tournament.

No one, with the exception of Dexter High School coach Steve Edwards.

“Sikeston is pretty good,” Edwards said after his team got past the Bulldogs 2-0 earlier this month. “I don’t care what their record says.”

As it turns out, Edwards, who has played and coached baseball for decades, knew what he was talking about.

In the past eight days, Sikeston has won three of its four games, all against teams with winning records, and its lone defeat was a 9-8 nailbiter against an 11-win South Iron squad.

“That’s a good team,” Edwards continued. “They are going to be dangerous in the SEMO Conference Tournament.”

That tournament opens play on Friday with the No. 8-seed Bulldogs (3-14) visiting No. 1-seed Jackson (18-6) at 4:30 p.m.

Beating the Indians will be a monumental task for Sikeston, but if Pratt throws senior Carter Goodman, his team will have a puncher’s chance.

“Goodman threw a whale of a game,” Edwards said after his team managed just two runs on one hit in 4 2/3 innings against Goodman.

In a 10-2 win over South Iron on Saturday, Goodman worked two innings and allowed just two hits and no earned runs while walking none and striking out two.

He continued his strong spring by limiting No. 3-seed Notre Dame (11-10) to a mere two hits and as many earned runs through 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday, and the Bulldogs shocked the area with a 10-3 thumping of the Bulldogs.

“He pitched a lot of strikes and got in the zone early,” Notre Dame coach Dave Lawson told Semoball.com of Goodman following the game. “He went out there and threw strike one and attacked us.

“Offensively we didn't have a whole lot of hits, when you got a good guy throwing you have to figure out a way to compete a little bit better and try to get him out of the game a little bit sooner.”

And Goodman isn’t alone in the Bulldog rotation.

Bulldog senior Rush Ault beat Class 2 No. 6-ranked Chaffee on Friday by throwing three-hit ball (and just one earned run) through five innings. 

Pratt has also gotten strong innings out of sophomores Jamison Sifford and Pierce Baker, and senior Colt Parker.

Bulldog sophomore Peyton Mitchell didn’t allow a run over 1 1/3 innings against the Bearcats, and Edwards said “that kid was just as good as (Goodman).”

Offensively, the Sikeston team that has competed over the past eight days is polar opposite of the earlier portion of the season.

Through 13 games to open the season, Sikeston scored just 26 runs. In the past four games, Pratt’s team has pounded out 38 hits and scored 42 runs.

"Our offense finally came alive," Pratt told Semoball.com following the win over the Red Devils. "We took great at-bats up and down the lineup."

In the wins against Chaffee and South Iron, the Bulldogs connected for three doubles in each of those games, and junior Luke Gadberry crushed a home run against South Iron.

“They are a good team,” Edwards concluded. “I don’t care what anybody in Southeast Missouri says. You put (Goodman) on the bump in the SEMO Conference Tournament and he could beat anybody.”