Jackson Post 158 reaches final of district tourney

Most pitchers dream of throwing a no-hitter at some point in their career.

But for Jackson Senior Legion Post 158 starting pitcher Joe Elfrink it's all about helping his team win.

The Leopold High School graduate only gave up three hits and carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning in Post 158's 11-2 win over Pemiscot County Legion Post 88 in the opening round of the District 14 Senior Legion tournament on Thursday at Notre Dame Regional High School.

"I was definitely aware of it, but I'm not too worried about giving it up," Elfrink said about losing the no-hitter in the sixth. "I'm more worried about staying focused on the game and keeping them off the scoreboard."

Elfrink struck out 10 and allowed just two earned runs in the sixth.

The runs came on an RBI single and a wild pitch.

Elfrink remained calm after giving up the runs and retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.

The right-hander credited catcher Wyatt Eldrich with calming him down calling a great game behind the plate.

"Sometimes I want to rely on my fastball too much," Elfrink said. "I tell him [Eldrich] to try and keep me away from that so that I can throw the off-speed stuff. When I can do that it keeps hitters off-balance and I can surprise them while executing my pitches."

Elfrink had plenty of help from the rest of his team, which rattled off five runs in the bottom of the first inning to give Elfrink a comfortable lead.

Ryan O'Rear hit the first pitch of the game for a double to right-center.

Steven Porzelt followed with a long fly ball that should have been caught by Post 88 center fielder Melvin Cummings. However, the ball hit off the heel of his glove and fell to the ground, allowing Porzelt to reach second and O'Rear to score for a 1-0 lead. Cummings was charged with the error.

Harvey followed with a single to put runners at first and third with no outs.

On a pick-off attempt during the next at-bat, the pitcher made an arrant throw to first, allowing Porzelt to score for a 2-0 advantage.

Kyle James picked up his first RBI of the day with a double that scored Harvey to make it 3-0.

Cody Harris followed with a walk. He tagged up and advanced to second on a sacrifice fly from Landon Mills, which scored James to make it 4-0. James advanced to third on a wild pitch in the previous at-bat.

Two batters later, Kelby Brown walked and attempted to steal second. Brown was caught in a rundown between first and second base but it gave Harris, who had reached third on a fielder's choice, the time to score for a 5-0 lead.

"That's something we've been working on and sometimes it works, but other times it doesn't -- just glad it did tonight," Post 158 coach Mark Lewis said.

Post 158 scored three runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to secure the win.

Elfrink said he thinks his team is peaking at the perfect time.

"Every team is beatable at any time -- it's baseball," Elfrink said. "But, I feel like we're hitting every stride right."

Lewis agrees that his team is playing well, but said there is more work to be done before they can celebrate.

"This tournament isn't over," Lewis said. "There are still good teams ahead of us and a lot of work to be done on our part."

Jackson will play the winner of Cape Legion Post 168 and Pemiscot County at 7 p.m. today in the finals.