Jackson rides fast start to victory over Mules

The Poplar Bluff Mules needed a near-perfect game to surpass a red-hot Jackson baseball squad, but it didn’t happen.

The Mules’ early struggles from the mound aided in a 14-5 loss in Tuesday’s matchup against the Indians. With this loss, the Mules fall to 11-13 on the season as they prepare for the district tournament.

Jackson (23-6) came into the game fresh off a win over Kennett to capture the SEMO Conference title Monday evening. Though exhausted, the Indians did not skip a beat going up against the Mules, who also won their fifth-place matchup Monday with Sikeston at the SEMO Conference Tournament.

“We got a big win last night in a very emotional conference championship, so we expended a lot of energy last night,” Jackson coach Josh Roach said after Tuesday’s game. “I knew we were going to be a little tired today, but we came out with good energy.

It was hard for us to sustain it just because our energy levels were down a little bit and even though things got shaky, we were still able to get it done. This is kind of what the team has done all year, so I’m happy with the win.”

The Mules struck gold first with a sacrifice fly to center field from Kayson King, which helped Dylan Hall across home plate. Stepping into the top of the second, Jackson wasted no time as the Indians quickly responded with a bomb home run to center field from senior Baden Hackworth.

That home run then ignited the Indians to go on a massive run. Jackson picked up momentum with a couple of base hits and used its speed to steal multiple bases, putting up six more runs on the board for a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the second.

Luck for the Mules finally started to turn at the bottom of the third inning with base hits from Hall and Kolby Greenwall. Both brought in runners and trimmed the lead 8-4, giving the Mules a little hope to snatch the game back.

The Mules are known for getting down and making a triumphant comeback, but Jackson left no crumbs behind as it continued to rack up points through the reaming innings.

Despite having a strong game plan, Poplar Bluff coach John David Pattillo said it would be a challenge going up against a strong team such as Jackson.

“Jackson is loaded from their pitching to hitting, and they just do a lot of things well, but we came out and threw everything at them,” Pattillo said. “One thing about this team is that we will battle with the best of them. It’s a growing process, but I thought the kids handled themselves pretty well.

“We made some mistakes, but we’re still kind of making those mistakes that allow an extra runner to get to the scoring position, and it’s just situations like that we must get better with heading into districts. They hit the ball, and we hit it but failed to get across the plate.”

Sophomore Jaiden Glency won on the mound for the Indians. He pitched two innings, allowing four runs on three hits and striking out one. Kaden Kendle threw five innings in relief out of the bullpen.

Dylan Bratcher started the game for the Mules and allowed eight hits and seven runs over two innings. Spain and David Durbin entered the game in relief, throwing four innings and one inning, respectively.

Greenwall went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the Mules in hits. Poplar Bluff didn’t commit a single error in the field. King had seven chances in the field, the most on the team.

The Indians had 12 hits in the game, with Jackson Wyatt and Hackworth connecting with multiple hits. Wyatt led Jackson with three hits, and the Indians had 10 stolen bases during the game, as three players stole more than one. Landon Watkins led the way with two.

The Mules are slated to be back in action on Friday at home against East Carter at 4:30 p.m.