Jackson bats heat up, run-rule Oakville

The Jackson Indians baseball team defeated the Oakville Tigers in six innings by a score of 11-1 on Monday at Jackson Stadium. The Indians scored ten runs in three innings behind eight RBIs to put the Tigers away.

Oakville struck first when the Indians committed an error and allowed Sean Forbes to score, this was the only run the Tigers scored. Jackson struck back in the bottom half of the first when Cooper Rhodes scored on a throwing error after a Lance Wilson single.

The next few innings went scoreless before the Indians opened up the floodgates in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the fourth, Waylon Hale got things going with a single, scoring Drake Weber and Connor Beltz. Garrison Brown gave the Indians plenty of cushion with a three-run home run to left, scoring Caleb Nenninger and Drake again.

To close out the game in the sixth a Nenninger bunt scored Jaden Glency and Wilson, a Weber single scored Nenninger and a walk combined with a Rhodes single won for the Indians. Jackson head coach Josh Roach said the team worked hard in practice the past few days and they executed well.

“We’re trying to create an environment where it's more difficult in practice than it is in the game and it was interesting because a lot of the hitters said that they felt like the game was a little bit slower today. So that definitely made a difference, that helped,” Roach said. “They didn't try to do too much, they laid down some great sacrifice bunts and getting hits with two outs with runners on. They were much more competitive today against a big time arm, that kid threw the ball well.”

Carson McDaniel got the win for the Indians, the lefty went five innings with five strikeouts, two walks and just one earned run. Drew Parsons came in for the final inning and struck out two batters. Roach said after the first inning McDaniel did what he does well and had some good defensive plays behind him.

“Carson did exactly what Carson has done the past year and a half in last season and now this season. He was a little a little shaky in the first inning but he had a couple of little nub hits that are kind of hard to defend and got a couple guys on base and got the run in there,” Roach said. “But after that, he calmed down and brought confidence and just started pound zone strikes. All of those pitches were working today, he was locating everything really well and he had some good defensive plays behind them.”

Jackson will be back in action at home against rivals Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. barring a weather cancellation.