Host Jackson makes most of automatic bid in opening win at state tournament

~ Starting pitcher Zach Elfrink pitched six perfect innings in the 3-2 victory

As host of the 2014 Missouri Junior American Legion state tournament, Jackson Post 158 was given an automatic invitation to the five-team field.

Apparently, someone forgot to tell Post 158 they didn't belong with the zone champions.

Post 158 defeated the Springfield-Glendale Merchants, champions of Zone 3, 3-2 Thursday afternoon at Legion Field behind the gritty pitching performance of Zach Elfrink and some timely hitting from Cameron Duke.

With the win, Post 158 (31-7) advances to face top-seeded Washington today at noon at Legion Field.

"The first win is pivotal," said Post 158 coach Shelby Kight. "You can't come out of the loser's bracket, obviously. Getting that first win out of the way gives them confidence. It's huge. Absolutely."

Elfrink was nearly unhittable Thursday. In fact, the right-hander slide to score the second run.

It stayed that way until the seventh with Elfrink cruising along, facing the minimum number of batters.

"I can't really say enough about my team," Elfrink said. "They had my back the whole way. ... Innings one through seven, they had my back. They made a lot of plays. My philosophy for today was just get ahead (in the count), and I thought I did that. I was trying to work down and get ground balls."

Jackson Junior Legion Post 158 starter Zach Elfrink pitches to a Springfield-Glendale batter during the first inning of their first-round game in the state tournament Thursday in Jackson. Elfrink pitched six perfect innings and earned the win on the mound. (Fred Lynch)

Eleven of the first 18 outs coaxed by Elfrink were infield groundouts.

"Every pitch he was throwing -- changeup, curveball, fastball -- he was hitting every single spot," said Reynolds, who had a great view of Elfrink's work from his crouch behind the plate. "You cannot say enough about Zach's performance. It was brilliant."

Glendale broke through in the top of the seventh, scoring twice on four hits. The Merchants had runners at the corners with two out when Elfrink froze Caleb Combs with an inside fastball for strike three, preserving the tie.

"For a young pitcher like him, it's sometimes very tough after the perfect game is broken up to pitch from the stretch for the first time and in that kind of situation," Kight said. "I can't speak enough about his demeanor to be able to bear down and get us in there to hit."

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Reynolds singled to right, then stole second. One out later, Duke rapped a hard grounder to second. The ball took a bad hop and struck Glendale second baseman Cayden Stark in the right cheek before rolling into short center field, allowing Reynolds to streak home with the winning run.

"I was just looking for a ball to hit, and he threw me one that I could handle," Duke said. "I hit it hard. I feel bad, I saw it go right up in his face. I felt bad, but you've got to get a win somehow."

Reynolds was eager to get a rally going to save his battery mate.

"I told Elfrink, once they tied it up, I said, 'If you shut them down here, I will get on base and we're going win this game," Reynolds said. "I got a high fastball, and I drove it to the opposite field. Got on base, stole it, and Duke came through and had a good, hard hit. Unfortunately for that kid, it took a bad hop, but that's baseball."

Elfrink finished with a four-hitter, allowing two runs while striking out three. He didn't walk a batter.

Jackson Junior Legion shortstop Jay Hutchison fields a ground ball during the third inning of afirst-round game against Springfield-Glendale at the Junior Legion state tournament on Thursday. (Fred Lynch)

Drew Thiemann took the loss, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on six hits, walking five and striking out three over 6 2/3 innings.

Glendale coach Dan Julian liked the way his squad remained focused despite being no-hit for six innings.

"We know that this is a game where there's no clock on it," Julian said. "It's up to us to play until the other team gets the final out. That's what we did today. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way we hoped. But we fought hard from the first pitch to the last pitch."

Post 158 advances to the winner's bracket, a nice place to be after losing two of three games at last week's Zone 4 tournament.

"This is a big ballgame for us," Duke said. "We've got Washington (Friday), so that's a big game. It really helps to have a win under our belt."

Glendale 000 000 2 -- 2 4 2

Jackson 020 000 1 -- 3 6 1

WP -- Zach Elfrink. LP -- Drew Thiemann. Multiple hits -- Jackson: Garrett Reynolds 2-4.