Jackson baseball team gets first conference victory over Notre Dame

Tristan Thele is no stranger to coming up big in clutch situations.

The junior came through for the Jackson Post 158 Junior Legion baseball team numerous times last summer, including a walk-off single in the championship game of the Missouri Junior American Legion state tournament.

Now in his first season of varsity with the Jackson High School baseball team, Thele is still coming up with big hits.

On Monday at Notre Dame Regional High School, Thele, the No. 8 hitter in the Indians' lineup, came up with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and calmly took a couple pitches before drilling a single over the shortstop's glove that scored Jarrett Newell from third to give the Indians the go-ahead run.

Thele's single proved to be the game-winner for Jackson, which held on to defeat SEMO Conference foe Notre Dame 1-0.

Jackson starter Michael Houchin delivers a pitch to a Notre Dame batter during the third inning Monday, April 6, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

It was the Indians' first conference win of the season, and their first win against the Bulldogs since 2013.

"I tend to perform better in those situations," Thele said. "I was hoping for a fastball and to get the ball in play and make sure it goes through the hole. Once he threw it I was pretty sure it was going through."

Ben Maudie had opened the inning by reaching second on an error but was tagged out going to third when Newell grounded into a fielder's choice during the next at-bat. Newell ended up on second on the play and moved to third on a wild pitch from Notre Dame starting pitcher Adam Pope.

After Ryan Harvey popped out to the second baseman for the second out, Thele worked a 2-2 count before giving Jackson the lead.

"We've been in that situation before this season and we haven't gotten the hit," Jackson coach Bryan Austin said. "We left a lot of runners on base in this game and were kind of waiting for that hit. Tristan came through with two strikes and two outs. It's just incredible."

Jackson's Ben Maudie watches his fly ball to left field for a double against Notre Dame during the seventh inning Monday, April 6, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

Notre Dame tried to counter with some late-inning heroics of its own in the final frame.

After the first two batters struck out, Hunter Eftink worked a full count before drawing a walk. Pope followed with a single to advance Eftink to second, and Ross Essner walked to load the bases for Chase Urhahn. The Bulldogs' senior left fielder lined a 1-1 pitch to center field, but Ryan Harvey sprinted in to make the catch to secure the win for the Indians.

"I'll take that opportunity all day long in the seventh inning," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "Ten feet either side and it probably falls, and we score two runs and win. But you've got to find a way to put runs up earlier, and we couldn't do that against their guy. He's one of the better pitchers we've seen so far."

Jackson starting pitcher Michael Houchin pitched a complete-game shutout in the win. He did not surrender a hit over the first three innings and finished with seven strikeouts and four walks to earn his second victory this season.

The Indians played tight defense behind him. Jackson turned a double play in the third, and Eldridge caught a runner stealing in the fourth.

Jackson starter Michael Houchin, center, celebrates with Josh Barber, left, and Cameron Duke after their 1-0 win over Notre Dame Monday, April 6, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

"It was mainly defense for us," Houchin said. "I was keeping the ball down and wasn't focused so much on strikeouts. As long as my defense was making plays, I knew there wasn't going to be a problem."

Jackson had a chance to take a lead in the first inning. After Notre Dame turned a 6-4-3 double to cancel out Landon Mills' leadoff single, Wyatt Eldridge walked on four pitches.

Cameron Duke came up next and swung at the first pitch he saw, driving it into the left-field corner. Eldridge turned the corner at third as Austin waved him home, but the relay throw from third baseman Thomas Himmelberg cut him down at the plate to end the inning.

"Early in the game we were going to be aggressive," Austin said. "I sent him home on that one thinking, 'Hey, the ball might be wet, they might not be able to make those throws.' Obviously they made a great relay play at home, put it on the mark and we were out. So we had to pick each other up and continue to battle."

While Jackson eventually pushed across a run, Notre Dame was never able to put together a good inning until the seventh.

Dean Crippen came up with the Bulldogs' first hit of the game, a one-out infield single that split the Indians' third baseman and shortstop, but was thrown out trying to steal. Notre Dame stranded seven baserunners in the loss. Pope took the loss for the Bulldogs. He gave up one unearned run with four strikeouts and one walk.

After not playing for nearly a week leading up to their loss, Graviett said the Bulldogs will need some consistency in the coming weeks.

"We've had some time off, but you don't want to make excuses about that," Graviett said. "You've got to come out and be ready to play. We've just got to figure out a way, and get some consistency as far as playing games and practicing. If we can get the weather to straighten up, we're going to get a lot of baseball in in these next two weeks, which will do us some good."

Notre Dame will play Cape Central at 6 p.m. today and wrap up the week with a game against Dexter on Wednesday.

Jackson, meanwhile, is off to its best start since Austin took over the program last season. The second-year coach said his team will take some time to enjoy the conference victory before it hosts New Madrid County Central at 4 p.m. Thursday.

"It's significant to grab this one early, especially since it's a conference win," Austin said. "With us and Notre Dame, we know it's always going to be a battle. It's always going to be till the end. Their kids play extremely hard. Our kids will play hard, and it's always an exciting game. We don't always get them, so when we do it's important to remember how we did and use it for games down the road. We're playing extremely well right now. We just need to stay focused and keep it going."

Jackson 000 000 1 -- 1 6 1

Notre Dame 000 000 0 -- 0 4 1

WP -- Michael Houchin. LP -- Adam Pope. 2B -- Cameron Duke (1). Multiple hits -- Jackson: Duke 2-3, Tristan Thele 2-3.