INDIAN ERRORS UNCHAIN BULLDOGS

Notre Dame played less poorly than Jackson.

Notre Dame made fewer mistakes to advance to the semifinals of the SEMO Conference Baseball Tournament with a sloppy 5-4 win over the Indians at Capaha Field Friday evening.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs overcame three errors to advance to the semifinals where they will play top-seeded Sikeston at 5 p.m. today. Chaffee, the second seed will take on No. 3 Cape Central in a highly anticipated semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

In the Notre Dame-Jackson game, fifth-seeded Jackson (7-9) basically had the game won until Notre Dame (11-5) scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Lance Dohogne led off the inning with a sharp single for Notre Dame. Matt Pobst followed with a fielder's choice. Pobst, though, advanced to second on a wild throw. Scott Wittenborn then reached on an error and pinch hitter Adam Ralls came through with a clutch single to drive home the tying run.

Wayne Essner then hit a pop fly down the right field line. First baseman Seth Harrell made a running catch with his back to the infield, turned and threw a perfect strike to home. But catcher Brad Berry couldn't handle the big hop and Wittenborn gave Notre Dame the lead.

"I don't know what you can say," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "We played good enough to win, I guess. We left too many on base and made some errors and Scott (Eftink) struggled a bit on the mound."

The two teams combined to commit seven errors, four by Jackson.

"If we could catch the ball, we'd have won four more games," said a disgusted Jackson coach Sam Sides. "We had four physical errors and about three mental. We're not good enough to win when we do that. We just can't have mental errors and loaf like we did tonight."

Jackson got out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Michael Birk led off the game with a single and scored on an RBI single by Jason Brown.

Notre Dame answered in the bottom of the first. Essner drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on an error.

The Bulldogs drew three walks in the second inning and had the bases loaded with one out but Brown pitched his way out of trouble.

Notre Dame took a 3-1 lead in the third on a two-run single by Timmy Wencewicz.

In the top of the fifth, Jackson plated three runs on a two-run double by Patrick Kohm and an RBI single by Brown.

Despite some control problems early, Brown pitched well enough to win. And with his two RBIs, he did more than his share. But he took the loss, going the distance. He allowed five hits, four walks and struck out four. He allowed one earned run.

Eftink didn't have his curveball breaking as much as he'd like, Graviett said, but he kept battling to pick up the win. His best inning was the seventh when he retired Jackson on eight pitches. He allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and no walks. He hit a batter and struck out two.

Chaffee 4, Dexter 2

Chaffee coach Brian Horrell decided to go with his ace Matt Stroup in the first round and it was probably a good decision as Dexter played the Red Devils tough the whole game.

Chaffee scored four runs the first inning and was shut out the rest of the way. The Red Devils hit the ball, but Dexter played sound defense.

"They threw strikes, didn't walk many and made the plays," said Horrell said. "It was a good thing Mr. Stroup was on the mound today."

Stroup went seven innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk. He struck out seven.

Jeremy Lynn, who has yet to strike out in 49 at-bats this season, was the only Chaffee player with more than one hit. He went 2-for-3.

Chaffee (14-1) has won 14 straight games since losing to Cape Central in the season opener.

Sikeston 12, Kelly 8

In a game that didn't end until 11:30 p.m., Sikeston (12-3) scored six runs in the fifth inning to knock out Kelly ace Justin Simpher as the Bulldogs overcame an early 5-2 deficit. The Hawks fell to 8-8.

Kelly 15, Scott City 11

In a play-in game to balance out the nine-team field, Kelly saw a 10-0, fifth-inning lead evaporate but the Hawks were still able to prevail in eight innings.

Scott City (5-9) scored four in the sixth and six in the seventh to force extra innings. Kelly then went ahead for good with a five-run eighth and the Rams could score just once in the bottom of the frame.

Tyler Schlosser, Drew Moore and Major Burger all had three hits to lead Kelly.