Jackson Legion's season ends with 12-4 loss in district tournament

SIKESTON, Mo. -- After playing four games in two sweltering days, Jackson Senior Legion second baseman Dylan Koehler said his legs were "definitely shot" and that "as a team we were tired."

Then he quickly added: "That's not an excuse."

He also said it's not what made the difference in his team's 12-4 loss to Dunklin County in the championship game of the District 14 tournament Sunday at VFW Memorial Stadium in Sikeston.

"Not really," Koehler said. "I just think they got the momentum changer as soon as we had the bases loaded and it was 6-4. It was just kind of a momentum changer for them."

With two runs already home to cut the Dunklin County lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Jackson had the bases loaded with one out.

Jackson starter Clayton Baker delivers a pitch to a Dunklin County batter during the fourth inning in the final game of the American Legion District 14 tournament Sunday in Sikeston, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Clayton Baker struck out before Alex Bolen hit the third full-count pitch he saw screaming down the third base line and, unfortunately for Jackson, directly into the glove of Dunklin County third baseman Garrett Stockton.

Jackson would not score again, while Dunklin County used three Jackson errors to add six more runs in its final two at-bats.

"I'm not trying to take anything away from Dunklin," Jackson coach Mark Lewis said after lamenting the result of Bolen's liner. "I think [Dunklin County coach] Jamie [Johnson] knows that that was a big play. They got it and we didn't."

Zach Watkins, who hadn't pitched in three weeks because of an elbow injury, pitched all nine innings for Dunklin County.

"I couldn't really throw 100 percent," Watkins said. "I rested it for a while and threw a bullpen a couple days ago. Then I came out here today and felt good, so I pitched."

Jackson forced a championship game by making a big comeback to defeat Dunklin County earlier Sunday. Jackson trailed 7-0 after two innings before winning 10-7.

"They could've packed it in," Lewis said. "That's an easy day. It's hot out. It's 1 o'clock. You've got to win two, and you're down 7-0 and here we come."

Koehler, who will be a senior at Jackson High School this fall, jump-started his team's offense with a two-run homer in the third inning.

Koehler sparked the offense throughout the tournament. He reached base five times and drove in four runs against Sikeston on Saturday and followed it up with a big day against Dunklin County. Koehler was 2 for 4 with four RBIs in the first game Sunday and 3 for 4 in the second game.

"He threw me a fastball away and I just went with the pitch and it happened to go over the fence," Koehler said about the home run.

"Toward the end of the season, I'd say probably the last 15 games, I've really been hitting the ball pretty good compared to the beginning of the season."

Kendall Fay added a two-run homer in the third inning, and Jackson scored six more runs in the fifth, which featured a two-RBI double by Koehler.

Mason Sander got the win on the mound for Jackson after pitching 4 1/3 innings a day earlier against Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons.

"I was just throwing my curveball really well for strikes, and I was getting ahead with my fastball, working the corners and keeping it low," Sander said. "That's what helped me, my fastball location."

Sander gave up back-to-back hits and allowed an inherited runner to score when he entered the game with one out in the second inning. He yielded just three more hits and no runs over the final seven innings.

"Mason Sander, an unbelievable job," Lewis said. "He's a kid that's been great for me in my program. He's been outstanding. He's done anything that I've ever asked him -- infield, outfield, pitching, whatever. To come in like that after he threw the day before and to go like he did, he's the reason we're in the championship right there."

But Dunklin County, which sent Jackson to the losers bracket in the first game of the tournament behind Tyler Thompson's dominating performance on the mound, scored first again in game two and never yielded the lead.

"It was up and down," Lewis said of his team's day. "There's no doubt. I'll say this. I'm proud of these kids win or lose. To come into a tournament and get struck out 20 times and to come back through, I was proud of them. I really was.

"I'll go through my head about what I could've done different. I know the kids will, too, but Dunklin won it."