Jackson Junior Legion pitching staff continues dominance at regional tournament

The Jackson Post 158 Junior Legion team has won six consecutive games, a streak that started in the Missouri state tournament and has extended into a regional tournament.

One common thread in all of those games is that the pitcher that started on the mound for Jackson has finished the game on the mound.

Friday afternoon it was Gavon Turner who went the distance for state champion Post 158 in 5-2 victory over the Kansas state champion from McPherson, Kansas.

"It's been absolutely incredible," Jackson coach Shelby Kight said. "The effort on the mound we've gotten since the state tournament began has been awesome. You can't ask any more out of the pitchers, and saving our bullpen has really been big for us."

The victory pulled Jackson to within a win of the regional tournament championship game. Post 158 will face the winner of a game between the Minnesota and North Dakota state champions at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Jackson, which never trailed, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning on Triston Thele's two-RBI double.

"There's two strikes and two outs on Triston, and he came up and hammered one right down the line," Kight said. "He really took what the pitcher gave him and put a good swing on it. Being able to score first is one of our big keys to winning a baseball game, and that was big for him to come through right there."

Kansas scored once in the bottom of the inning, but Post 158 manufactured two runs in the top of the fourth to extend its lead to 4-1. Jackson was out-hit 7-4 in the game but drew five walks and had two players hit by pitches.

"It was a really tight game, a matchup of two really good teams," Kight said. "Luckily we put a lot of pressure on their defense and their pitcher once we got on base. They had a very good team. They hit the ball well, but I think Turner and our defense really came through for us today. The defense made several good plays."

Neither team committed an error in the contest.

Tyler Slinkard had an RBI single in the top of the fifth for Jackson and Kansas added a run in the bottom half of the inning to cap the scoring.

Turner allowed seven hits over seven innings of work. He struck out five and walked two.

"The strike zone was a little tight at times, but when you have two good teams that kind of to be expected," Kight said. "He just battled. They didn't really square him up too many times. He had command of his pitches. I thought he threw pretty well."