In tale of 2 streaks, Tigers end 'em both

JACKSON, Mo. -- It was the end of a couple of streaks Monday when Central defeated Jackson 7-3 at American Legion Field.

Central (5-12) ended its six-game losing streak and stopped Jackson's string of victories at seven.

"It was a big win for us for a lot of different reasons," Central coach Steve Williams said. "It gets us back on the winning track and kind of turns it around to make a positive finish to the season. Then it's a SEMO Conference win which keeps us at .500 in the conference (4-4) for the tournament seedings."

For the Indians (10-5, 5-3), it was a day to forget.

"Everything's been going our way for the last 10 days," Jackson coach Sam Sides said, "but today we made a bunch of mistakes, mental and physical."

Central lefthander John Thies (3-6) went the distance for the win. He gave up three runs, two earned, on seven hits with nine strikeouts and four walks.

"Oh, man, that was great," Thies said, "we needed it and we got what we wanted. That was probably my best outing of the season."

But it was a rocky start for Thies, as he saw Jackson load the bases with nobody out in the first inning. He came back to strike out the side.

"We let him off the hook early," Sides said. "We had him on the ropes in the first inning and we didn't get him, then he settled down and did a good job. You can't let good teams off the hook."

Williams said the key for Thies was the ability to throw his breaking ball for strikes when he wanted.

"He really kept them off balance," Williams said.

Central scored two unearned runs in the third to break a scoreless tie. With two outs, Seth Hudson singled, stole second and came around to score on a throwing error by the Indians shortstop on a Chris Conrad grounder. Conrad scored on another Jackson throwing error off a base hit by Aaron Dohogne.

Jackson scored twice in the bottom of the third to tie the score at two, but two costly base-running mistakes took the Indians out of a potential big inning.

Then both teams added a run in the fifth inning before Central broke it open with two in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

Central had eight hits, Jackson seven -- all singles. Only Jackson's Michael Birk had two hits.

Jackson starter Austin McDowell (3-3) took the loss, scattering five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

As for seeing the win streak come to a close, Sides said, "I'd just as soon it happened now as later. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and get better for the conference and district tournament."

llewis@semissourian.com

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