Dunklin Co. survives two thrillers

A marathon day of baseball paid major dividends for Dunklin County.

Pressed into the loser's bracket of the American Legion Zone 4 Tournament after losing to Oakville 8-6 late Friday night, Dunklin County rebounded with a pair of thrilling extra-inning victories Saturday at Capaha Field.

First, in the loser's bracket final played in the extreme heat of the middle of the afternoon, Dunklin County eliminated Festus 2-1 in 11 innings. Then the team from the Bootheel came back at night and handed Oakville its first tournament loss, 2-1 in 10 innings.

So Dunklin County (38-8) and Oakville (35-10) will square off one more time, at 1 p.m. today, for the zone championship and a berth in the state tournament in Columbia.

"It was a long day of baseball, but this bunch doesn't want to quit," Dunklin County manager Jamie Johnson said. "I can't say enough about the whole team."

Particularly pitcher Steven Riggs, who saw limited action during the season but worked all 10 innings against Oakville. After Oakville scored a run in the first inning, Riggs kept the powerful St. Louis squad off the board the rest of the way. He allowed eight hits, walked two and struck out one.

"Steven has done a good job out of the bullpen all year, but he hasn't had a lot of innings," Johnson said. "What a performance he gave us."

In the top of the 10th, Nathan Baker drew a one-out walk, stole second with two outs and scored on Hunter Butler's single to left.

Brian Lacey had four of Dunklin County's 13 hits. Baker had three while Jeremy Lyons and Dustin Pritchett added two.

Mike Merkel led Oakville with three hits and Tim Seago had two. Matt Boyer matched Riggs in working all 10 innings. He fanned eight and walked three.

Earlier in the day, Dunklin County scored a run in the bottom of the 11th inning to eliminate Festus as Ben Pfeffer's long single with the bases loaded and nobody out brought home Matt Thomas.

Adam Whitehead's two-out, RBI double in the top of the ninth had tied things for Festus (31-14). Whitehead went 5-for-5 with three doubles. Festus had seven hits.

Pfeffer and Lyons both had three of Dunklin County's 11 hits.

Ben Foster, Dunklin County's third pitcher, worked two shutout innings for the win. Starter Jarrod Duffel hurled six shutout innings and Pritchett gave up one run in three innings.

Festus starter Andy Politte worked 10-plus strong innings but took the loss.