JACKSON LOSES NOTHING, FINDS WIN; LOOSE INDIANS STUN CAPE LEGION 11-0

Jackson's American Legion baseball team entered Monday's opening of the District 14 Tournament as the last seed after having gone 0-12 during regular-season district play.

But the Indians didn't appear to be lacking for confidence.

"We've played a lot of people close during the season and I told them to just hang in there," said Jackson coach Robert White in describing his pre-game talk. "I told them that, as the last seed, we had nothing to lose."

Nothing to lose indeed. Seventh-seeded Jackson stunned second-seeded and host Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons with an 11-0 rout that ended after the top of the seventh inning by the 10-run mercy rule.

Jackson will take on third-seeded Chaffee at 8 tonight at Capaha Field in a winner's bracket semifinal.

Cape will play sixth-seeded Van Buren at 5 p.m. Wednesday in an elimination game. Van Buren lost to Chaffee 11-5 Monday in first-round action.

Monday's other first-round game saw fourth-seeded Sikeston down fifth-seeded Poplar Bluff 8-4. Sikeston will take on top-seeded Dunklin County, which received an opening-round bye, at 5 p.m. today in a winner's bracket semifinal.

For Jackson, which improved to 17-20 overall on the season, Monday's shocking victory was without a doubt the biggest triumph since the Indians returned to playing Legion baseball last year after more than a 25-year absence.

The Indians went just 3-30 a year ago in their debut season. Although they failed to win a district game this year, they improved dramatically, as evidenced by their overall record.

"We've made a lot of progress this year, but this was definitely the biggest win for our program," White said. "To play a program like Cape at Capaha and to win like this, it means a lot to us."

Cape, which fell to 22-23 overall, had handily beaten Jackson twice during the regular season. But Ford & Sons manager Ron Michel said his team simply got ambushed Monday.

"We weren't ready to play and you've got to hand it to Jackson," Michel said. "They did everything right. They had no errors while we made a few and they had all the hits."

The winner of the District 14 Tournament earns a berth in next week's zone tourney but, as the host team for the zone as well as the district, Cape is assured of a berth. Michel, however, said that's no excuse for Monday's lopsided setback.

"We're out to win (the district)," he said. "We don't want to come in the back door of the zone. We want to enter in the front."

Jackson made sure Ford & Sons will have to play some serious baseball the rest of the way if it wants to win the double-elimination district tourney.

Mike McCall pitched the seven-inning shutout, allowing just three hits while striking out seven and walking three. He allowed no more than one baserunner in any inning until the seventh, when Cape left the bases loaded to end the game.

"Mike really pitched a good game," said Jackson pitching coach Bobby Friese. "He'd get ahead in the count and then make them swing at his pitch."

Justin Gladish paced Jackson's nine-hit attack with a home run and a double. He also scored four runs.

Todd Wessel had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs while Zane McClard had two hits and three RBIs.

Cape ace Todd Pennington took the loss, allowing four hits and three runs in four innings. Jackson broke it wide open against reliever Dustin Glastetter, who gave up eight runs (six earned) and five hits in a 1 2/3 innings.

Jackson, the official home team on the scoreboard after a coin flip, went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Gladish drilled a leadoff homer over the left-field fence.

Run-scoring singles by Wessel and McClard in the third made it 3-0, then Wessel's RBI triple in the fifth put Jackson up 4-0.

Any suspense that might have been left ended during a seven-run sixth that featured four hits and three errors. McClard's two-run single was the key blow.

American Legion Baseball

District 14 Tournament

(at Capaha Field)

Monday's Results

Game 1: Sikeston 8, Poplar Bluff 4

Game 2: Jackson 11, Cape 0 (7 inn.)

Game 3: Chaffee 11, Van Buren 5

Today's Schedule

Game 4: 5 p.m. - Dunklin Co. vs. Sikeston

Game 5: 8 p.m. - Jackson vs. Chaffee