JACKSON ROLLS PAST YOUNG 'CATS

JACKSON -- A young Dexter High baseball team has had its moments this season, including playing Cape Central extremely tough during a recent 4-0 loss.

So Jackson coach Sam Sides was expecting quite a battle Monday afternoon when his Indians hosted the Bearcats.

Much to Sides' pleasure, however, the Indians had little trouble in posting a 13-3 victory. The game was stopped after the top of the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.

Jackson, having a solid season, improved to 10-5 with its fourth straight victory. Dexter, which starts several sophomores and a freshman, fell to 5-6.

"We usually have pretty competitive games with Dexter and I was expecting a better game," said Sides. "I thought we did a lot of good things today. When we got down in the count, we fouled some balls off and made the pitcher work. We haven't always done that this year."

Josh Adams, who earlier this season tossed a no-hitter, was the winning pitcher. He gave up four hits and five walks while striking out four. All three of Dexter's runs were unearned.

"I thought Josh did well," Sides said. "He's had some trouble getting his breaking ball over, but if he can do that, he's tough."

The Indians had nine hits, six of those coming from the last three batters in the order. Jarod Suedekum, hitting eighth, went 3-for-3, drove in two runs and scored twice.

Seventh-place batter Burt Hahs had two hits and scored two runs while Jason Goben -- hitting last -- added a single and scored twice. Goben also made a sparkling catch in center field that snuffed out a Dexter threat.

"The bottom of the lineup did a lot of damage," said Sides. "They came through for us today."

Travis Stevens, Adams and Todd Wessel -- the third, fourth and fifth batters -- all drove in a pair of runs as each had a hit.

While hitting the ball decent enough, Jackson also took advantage of several Dexter blunders -- the Bearcats had six errors -- as the Indians scored just five earned runs.

The Bearcats jumped on top with two unearned runs in the top of the first inning as they took advantage of two Jackson errors. Ryan Jackson did the damage at the plate with a two-run double that hit the left-field fence.

Dexter pitcher T.J. Abernathy, a hard-throwing sophomore, started out strong as he struck out the side in the bottom of the first. But the Indians managed to tie the contest with two unearned runs.

Then the Bearcats came unglued in the second as Jackson scored seven times, with only three of the runs earned. Adams had a two-run double while Hahs and Suedekum added RBI singles as the Indians knocked out Abernathy.

Jackson went ahead 13-2 with a four-run fourth, keyed by a two-run single from Stevens and RBI hits by Suedekum and Goben.

The Bearcats got one back in the fifth, but the game ended on the run rule.

Jackson will return to action Wednesday with a home game against rival Cape Central.