Jackson Post 158 takes down Cape Ford and Sons Post 63

Cape Ford and Sons Post 63 catcher Josh Morse swung and missed on a pitch from Jackson Post 158 pitcher Gavon Turner in the bottom of the fifth inning and promptly turned toward his team's dugout down the third-base line and slammed his bat into the ground.

Morse's inning-ending strikeout in a one-run game against a district rival stranded a pair of runners in scoring position.

It wasn't the first time Jackson was able to escape a jam in Wednesday night's contest and it wouldn't be the last as Post 158 defeated Post 63 3-1 at Capaha Field.

"Starting off our batting average with runners in scoring position was outstanding, so I guess it's coming back to the pack a little bit right now," Post 63 coach Justin Lieser said. "But we're having some pretty good at-bats. We're taking a few too many pitches early in the count, kind of digging ourselves a hole a little bit."

Jackson stranded a runner on third in the top of the first when third baseman Cameron Duke was caught stealing second to end the inning before Turner retired Post 63 in order.

Post 158 right fielder Landon Mills led off the second with a double to the gap in right center and scored on a groundout by Turner to put Jackson up 1-0.

Turner's opposition on the mound, Southeast Missouri State signee Chase Hagerty, proved to be the most dangerous at the plate for the righty from Jackson.

Hagerty was 3 for 3 and sent the first pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the second into right. He advanced to third on a one-out single but remained there after an inning-ending double play.

"Just his overall composure," Lieser said of what impressed him about Turner. "There was one time early in the game where I think he started to -- I don't want to say lose focus, but you could see there was an opportunity. Credit to him he was able to get his bearings back."

Jackson extended its lead to 2-0 in the third. Jon Schumer reached on a fielder's choice and Wyatt Eldridge drove him home with a one-out triple over center fielder Matt Chism. "I thought offensively we battled at the plate, which is big because Hagerty is a very good arm. No doubt about it," Post 158 coach Mark Lewis said. "He throws the ball well, so you've got to come in and hold their offense down and get good at-bats all day. We were fortunate to get some hits with some traffic on base."

Post 63's Isaac Pender responded with a triple to start the bottom half of the third and Cramer McGarr sent a two-out single past a diving Weber just to the left of second base to score Pender and cut the deficit to 2-1.

Hagerty did not allow a base runner the next two innings.

"I was able to locate my fastball really well," Hagerty said. "I don't know about my velocity or anything like that; I was really just trying to hit my spots because these guys have got fast hands and they can hit the ball well, as they showed."

Hagerty reached with a leadoff base hit in the fourth and was advanced to third with a couple of groundouts but Turner recorded his fourth strikeout of the game to end the threat.

Pender singled to start the fifth and Brock Baughter drew a one-out walk. Both were bunted into scoring position before Morse struck out.

Jackson's Ryan Harvey was hit by a pitch on the helmet with one out in the top of the sixth, advanced to second on a failed pickoff by Hagerty and scored on Mills' second hit of the night to push Post 158's lead to 3-1.

"You've just got to grind him out," said Mills, who was the only Post 158 batter with multiple hits off Hagerty. "You can't go up there swinging for the fences. You've just got to grind him out and get him a little bit behind and then that's when you've got to work it."

Hagerty got a base hit to drop in shallow center to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Trevor Propst singled with one out, but both were stranded and Post 63 was retired in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Turner picked up the win on the mound as Post 168 improved to 16-10 and 3-1 in district play. He allowed one run on eight hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Hagerty took the loss as Post 63 dropped to 13-12 and 3-1 in the district. He allowed three runs on five hits with one walk, one hit batter and nine strikeouts.

"It can be frustrating sometimes but that's baseball," Hagerty said. "We could have a really good outing altogether -- we strung together eight hits, but sometimes it just doesn't fall when we need it to."

Jackson 011 001 0 -- 3 5 0

Cape 001 000 0 -- 1 8 1

WP -- Gavon Turner. LP -- Chase Hagerty. 3B -- Isaac Pender (C), Wyatt Eldridge (J). 2B -- Landon Mills (J). Multiple hits: Jackson -- Mills 2-3. Cape -- Hagerty 3-3, Trevor Propst 2-3, Pender 2-3.