Jackson Post 158 defeats short-handed Blytheville

When Blytheville Senior Legion arrived at Saxony Lutheran High School with just eight players on Friday evening, Jackson Post 158 coach Mark Lewis just wanted his players to see live pitching.

He lent the visitors a right fielder to arrange a game, and players like Post 158 left fielder Will Winingar took advantage of the opportunity as the host extended its winning streak to eight games with a 12-4 victory.

The win was Post 158's first on the field since a doubleheader sweep of district rival Cape Girardeau Post 63 on Tuesday, as the squad picked up a forfeit over Perryville on Thursday.

Lewis said Blytheville was short a couple of players due to injury, and he showed his appreciation for their 100-mile-plus trip to Jackson by putting a red jersey among the blue ones in the field.

The matchup was supposed to be a doubleheader, the variety Post 158 (13-6) swept Blytheville on the road in the first week of June, but the teams opted for a quirky nine-inning game which Blytheville had eight players in its batting order and Jackson had 10.

"We were off since Tuesday and I didn't want to go that long being off until Sunday," Lewis said. "You just want to keep going, you want to keep getting at-bats. I mean that's the big thing. Practices are great, but you need game speed. It was good for us to come out and get a little work in today."

Winingar banged out three of Post 158's 14 hits, including an RBI double.

"Good for him," Lewis said, when Winingar's batting numbers were brought up after the game. "He's been a guy ... The thing that you like about your guys is they make it hard for you to make your lineup. They keep coming in and doing stuff. When you go to make the lineup, it's hard. When you've got nobody in there, you're not real worried about it, but he's doing a good job of keeping it hard to make the lineup every day."

Winingar, batting eighth in the 10-man order, struck out to end a four-run first for Jackson, but then collected hits in his final three at-bats. He stole two bases after his first hit, a one out single in the fourth, scoring on the front end of double steal attempt to extend the lead to 6-4 at the time.

"I've been struggling to hit the ball, so I haven't been starting as much as I'd like to," said Winingar, a rising senior at Jackson High School. "I've kind of come on strong."

He said he started hitting better last weekend in a tournament in Decatur, Illinois.

"Me and coach messed with my swing a little bit, got some kinks worked out of it," Winingar said.

Blytheville threw five pitchers at Post 158, which is a collection of players from Jackson, Saxony Lutheran and Leopold.

After Post 158 starter Triston Thele walked two batters in the first inning and both came around to score, the Jackson squad put together four hits in the home half off Blytheville starter Will Camp, who pitched two innings.

Drew Brown, Tyler Amos and Nathan Hurst opened the Jackson first with singles, the latter plating a run, before Colten Weber delivered a one-out, two-run double to right field to give Post 158 a 3-2 lead. Weber later scored on an error for a 4-2 advantage.

Thele allowed three of the first four batters to reach base in the second, but allowed just one run as he began to settle down. He allowed just one more run in the fourth before being relieved in the sixth. He allowed six hits, walked seven and struck out six over five innings.

"That's one of the best outings he's had," Lewis said about Thele. "He's had a couple of outings that have been kind of up and down. I thought he struggled early but then after that. I thought he started throwing better in the third, fourth and fifth."

Post 158 scored a run in the third on an RBI groundout by Weber before Winingar's steal of home in the fourth, then added two runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Cameron Duke and an RBI groundout by Thele to take an 8-4 lead.

Thele then walked the first two Blytheville batters in the sixth before being replaced by Garrett Thele, who escaped a bases-loaded jam with the help of an inning-ending pickoff throw by catcher Paris Johnson to first baseman Duke to nab the runner.

Garrett Thele finished with three scoreless innings, while Post 158 made things more comfortable with a four-run eighth that included two doubles and two triples, the last provided by Tyler Amos with two outs and scoring the game's final two runs.

Garrett Thele, who struck out one and walked one and allowed four hits over four innings, was supposed to start Thursday's game that was forfeited by Perryville.

"Garrett is a guy that I just haven't got a lot of inning on," Lewis said. "For whatever reason, I just have got to get him into games more, but he's been doing real well hitting, defense and everything else. He's done real well for us."

Brown and Amos both had two hits for Post 158 (13-6), while Alex Draughn had four hits for Blytheville.

Lewis termed his team as "cruising" after the first inning, in a game that might have lacked its normal intensity due to the circumstances.

"When you got one of your own guys out there, it's kind of different," Lewis said. "We were real good the last three, four games, and tonight we won, but we weren't real sharp."

Weather permitting, Post 158 will host De Soto in a doubleheader 3 p.m. Sunday at Saxony Lutheran.

Blytheville 210 100 000 -- 4 10 2

Jackson 401 120 04x -- 12 14 2

WP -- Triston Thele. LP -- Will Camp. 2B -- Camp (B), Brett Sweatman (B), Colten Weber (J), Paris Johnson (J), Will Winingar (J). 3B -- Tyler Amos (J), Thele (J). Multiple hits -- Blytheville: Ashton Kennedy 2-6, Alex Draughn 4-5; Jackson: Drew Brown 2-4, Amos 2-5, Winingar 3-4.