Jackson run-rules Sikeston in conference tournament

The Jackson Indians baseball team defeated the Sikeston Bulldogs 11-1 in the SEMO Conference Tournament opening round on Friday at Jackson Stadium. Jackson, the #1 seed, improves their record to 19-6 while the #8 seed Bulldogs fall to 3-14.

Sikeston opened up the scoring in the top of the second inning when Peyton Mitchell drew a walk with the bases loaded to take a 1-0 lead. Mitchell ran most of the offense for the Bulldogs with a 2-2 day with an RBI, while Connor Wicker and Rush Ault each had one of Sikeston’s four hits.

The Indians flipped the script in the bottom half of the second when they scored five runs on three hits to take a 5-1 lead. Peyton Kight hit a two-run home run to start the scoring before an Adler Flinn fielders choice grounder and a Cooper Rhodes two-RBI double made it five.

Jackson finished the job in the bottom of the fifth inning with Waylon Hale, Rhodes, Owen Osborne, Jaiden Glency and Kight all hitting RBIs for the 11-1 victory. Several of those base hits were the results of well-executed bunts, Indians head coach Josh Roach said the team did a great job using the “small-ball” strategy.

“They were giving us a little bit of room defensively we thought, so we thought we would try and take advantage of that and we did,” Roach said.

Sikeston’s Barrett Stokes was tagged with the loss going four innings with one strikeout, three walks and seven earned runs. Cole Koeberl started the game for Jackson and got in trouble early forcing the Indians to bring in Ryan Turlington who earned the win. Freshman Grant Brown made his varsity pitching debut closing out the fifth for the Indians.

Roach said he was pleased with his young pitchers' ability to come in and slow down the Bulldogs after their early run.

“I thought our young pitchers did a great job. Ryan Turlington, I’m proud of how we came in a little bit of a tight spot and threw strikes, got us out of that,” Roach said. “Then Grant Brown there at the end, he came in throwing strikes and getting outs so we’re proud of those guys.”

Jackson will take on #4 Kennett tomorrow at Jackson Stadium at 10 a.m. while Sikeston will play #5 Cape Central at Notre Dame Regional High School at 10 a.m.