Jackson baseball scrapes past Sikeston in extras, 3-2

It might be the first week of the baseball season, but the action on the diamond on Good Friday morning felt a lot more like May than March.

In gray, chilly weather, Jackson clawed its way to a 3-2, 10-inning victory over rival Sikeston in an early-season SEMO Conference clash on Friday at Whitey Herzog Field in Jackson, Missouri.

In what was mostly a pitching duel, the Indians finally came up with the big hit they needed when Tristan Thele drove the first pitch of his fifth at-bat of the day over the head of Bulldog left fielder Sam Cox to bring Jarrett Newell home from third and spark a well-earned celebration in extra innings.

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Sikeston's Trent Sidwell pitches to a Jackson batter in the third inning Friday, March 25, 2016 at Whitey Herzog Stadium in Jackson. Sidwell allowed two runs on five hits in six innings of work, but received a no decision.

Jackson (6-0 overall, 1-0 conference) managed just five hits through the first nine innings before Newell led off the 10th with a single to left, Gavon Turner hit a one-out single up the middle and Thele ended the game.

The first five batters in the Indians' order managed just three hits on the day, but two of them came in the final frame.

"It's early still. None of them have had over 20 at-bats," Jackson coach Bryan Austin said. "So even with the heart of the order up, it's still an early-season situation where I feel like when we get closer to May, those guys will be better.

"Early on we weren't satisfied with our at-bats. We left a ton of runners on the bases. We felt like we hit the baseball hard but it was just right at guys. Throughout the game we kept reminding kids,' It's gonna fall soon, it's gonna fall soon. Who's going to be the one who comes up with the hit?' We were fortunate enough to get that in the 10th."

It was, on the whole, the pitchers who controlled the day. Turner — who was 2-for-5 in the batter's box — got the win on the mound after four scoreless innings of relief in which he gave up two hits, struck out three and walked none.

That was after starter Colten Weber went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits with 11 strikeouts and three walks.

"Especially early on it was tough [for the pitchers]," Austin said. "It was cold out, they can't feel the baseball — that's for both teams. What was great was how well they both competed. Our kids competed their butts off and we played great defense behind them and that ended up being a great factor for us.

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Jackson's Tristan Thele connects with the ball but is thrown out at first base in the fourth inning against Sikeston Friday, March 25, 2016 at Whitey Herzog Stadium in Jackson. Thele later came up with the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 10th inning.

"It had the feel of a postseason baseball game in March. It was brutal conditions for both teams. We knew going in it was going to be a dominating pitching performance from both teams. Their kid [Trent Sidwell] did an absolutely great job on the mound. Both teams played really great defense. For it being March, that was two very good high school baseball teams dueling it out."

Sidwell was the Bulldog starter, matching Weber's effort by going six innings and giving up two runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked three. Will Gilmer took the loss in relief, going 3 1/3 and allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

"I thought Trent did a great job," Sikeston coach Alan Scheeter said. "The whole time he was in there he was keeping them off balance. His ball moves a lot and he was changing speeds and changing locations. He'd move one in then move one out then throw a little sinker on them. Then Gilmer came in and did an excellent job too. He's got a hard, sharp-breaking curveball and he was able to get that over for a strike. that allowed him to be effective most of the time he was in there.

"We didn't give anything away today. We battled the whole time. Jackson just came out and they earned it. They just played a little bit better than us in 1/3 of an inning right there."

Runs were hard to come by from the start, but Sikeston (1-1, 0-1) struck first in the top of the third, as 9-hitter Will Pratt fisted off an inside pitch into right field for a leadoff single, moving to second when Trey Smith was hit by a pitch. Wyatt Pratt then laid down a bunt to put both runners in scoring position — a move that paid off when Blake Wolferding hit a two-out, two-run single into left field.

Wolferding finished the game 2-for-5.

Down 2-0, Jackson nearly responded in the bottom half of the inning, but Sidwell worked out of trouble and stranded a pair of Indian runners in scoring position.

That was the story for most of the game, as Jackson left nine runners on base and Sikeston stranded eight.

The Bulldogs had two on and one out in the top of the sixth, but Weber picked up back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and maintain a two-run deficit.

GLENN LANDBERG ~ glandberg@semissourian.com Jackson's Jarrett Newell makes a throw to third base to out Sikeston's Trey Smith in the 10th inning Friday, March 25, 2016 at Whitey Herzog Stadium in Jackson.

That gap disappeared in the bottom half of the inning.

As the sun finally came out, so did Jackson's bats — at least for a moment. With the middle of the order ineffective, the bottom third picked up the slack as No. 7-hitter Braden Dobbs (2-for-4 with a run scored) drove a two-out double down the left-field line. Weber — who reached base in all four plate appearances thanks to an infield single, a walk and two pitches into his shoulder — was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners before Skyler Pease finally put his team on the board with a double into right field.

Trailing 2-1 and with two Indians in scoring position, Sidwell balked the game-tying run in.

Jackson had an opportunity to end the game in the bottom of the ninth, as Weber was hit by a pitch for a second time — this time by Gilmer — to open the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and then landed on third with some heads-up running on a ground out. Standing just 90 feet away, Weber could not find a way home, though. A fly ball to center was not deep enough to bring him in, and a fly out to right ended the inning.

"You always second guess in those situations," Austin said. "You have the winning run 90 feet away and you always go, 'Well maybe we should have done this, maybe we should have done this.' But at the end of the day we know when we're in those spots we're going to have to come up and get a big hit, and that's what Tristan was able to do in the 10th."

Sikeston had its own opportunity to take a lead in the top of the 10th when leadoff hitter Trey Smith was hit by a pitch and then stole second base. But one out later Jackson's defense was able to get the lead runner at third and ultimately escape unscathed.

"I'm proud of those guys," Scheeter said. "I'm proud of every kid we've got. We played our guts out today and battled the whole time against a really quality ball club.

"Our kids were itching to play. They had this game circled. Any team that's in our conference, they love to play those games. … Bragging rights is big."

At least for the moment, Jackson holds those.

"The kids know it's a conference and a district game," Austin said. "It has a different feel to it, but they know the quality of opponent it was. That's big for us to get that feeling early on, before we get into April and May."

Both teams were scheduled to face Willard later Friday afternoon.

Sikeston returns to action Monday hosting New Madrid County Central.

Jackson is off until it hosts Notre Dame on April 4.

Sikeston 002 000 000 0—2 7 1

Jackson 000 002 000 1—3 8 0

WP—Gavon Turner. LP—Will Gilmer. 2B—Braeden Dobbs (J), Skyler Pease (J). Multiple hits—Sikeston: Blake Wolferding 2-5; Jackson: Turner 2-5, Dobbs 2-4.