Left-handers toss rivals into semifinal game

There was not a special promotion at Notre Dame Regional High School Saturday afternoon, but it sure had the appearance.

It looked like "Left-hander Day at the Ballpark" as the rain-hampered SEMO Conference Baseball Tournament finally got rolling. The promotion might have read: Any left-hander taking the mound would be guaranteed a season highlight as well as a complete-game victory.

And it was Central's John Thies and Jackson's Jason Meystedt at the front of the line.

Thies hurled a no-hitter at New Madrid County Central as Central won its opening-round game 2-0.

Meystedt followed with a commanding five-hit performance as Jackson upset third-seeded Notre Dame for the second straight year in the tournament with an 8-6 victory.

The victories put second-seeded Central (13-8) and sixth-seeded Jackson (8-8) in a 5 p.m. semifinal game Monday at Capaha Field. Top-seeded Sikeston, a 13-0 winner over No. 8 Chaffee Saturday at Harmon Field in Chaffee, Mo., will follow against No. 4 Poplar Bluff at 7 p.m.

Chaffee defeated Kelly 4-2 in an earlier game Saturday, while No. 7 NMCC edged No. 10 Scott City 4-3 in eight innings despite just two hits.

For Central, Thies (5-2) added to his reputation of being one of the premier pitchers in the area by striking out eight Eagles and walking just two. While he only got five hits from his own team's offense, he was the benefactor of some of the Tigers' best defense of the season.

"I started off pretty strong, and then I just started relying on my defense a little," said Thies, who had six strikeouts in the first three innings. "It makes pitching a lot easier when you know you have a defense behind you."

The Tiger defense turned in several big plays, but none was bigger than senior second baseman Chris Conrad's gem on pinch-hitter Zach Dees for the first out of the seventh inning.

Dees pinch-hit at cleanup, which proved the most testy spot in the order on the day. Dees, batting for Luke St. Mary, sent a harder grounder past Thies that looked like a clean single to center field.

"I thought it was," Conrad said. "I just hustled over there and made the play. I knew I had to get rid of it quick, and it worked out."

Conrad ranged behind second to glove the ball and got off an off-balance throw that Colin Schermann scooped at first base in a close play.

"That's professional right there," Thies said. "That's a web gem. That was an awesome play by him and Colin."

Shortstop Seth Hudson retired the next batter at first, and right fielder Mark Dunaway put away a Josh King flyball to seal the no-hitter.

"Overall it was a great day defensively, and John was super sharp. I'm tickled to death for him," Central coach Steve Williams said.

St. Mary was involved in another close play at first in the fourth inning when the Eagles loaded the bases. St. Mary hit a smash to the right side that Schermann dove for and knocked over to Conrad, who threw to Thies covering first.

"I got lucky that Colin pretty much knocked that ball down and John was doing his job and covering first," Conrad said. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time again."

Central took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Hudson led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Mitch Craft. NMCC starter Ben Stricklin allowed just one hit over the next three innings before the Tigers struck for an insurance run in the fifth. Catcher Lucas Presson, who went 2-for-2, singled with one out and pinch-runner Clay Schermann scored on an Aaron Dohogne double.

"We didn't help him too much with the bats, but I guess we made up for it a little bit with defense," Conrad said.

Jackson 8, Notre Dame 6

Chased from the Notre Dame batting cage prior to the game by the Bulldogs, a snubbed Jackson team had the last say.

"We got kicked out of the batting cage, and we got kind of mad about that," said Meystedt (2-1).

The Indians took their batting practice out between the white lines, banging out 12 hits as they picked up their first win over the Bulldogs in three tries.

"Today I thought we were ready to play," Jackson coach Sam Sides said. "I thought it was the first time all year where we were really ready to go from the first pitch."

Sides didn't mind his team's reaction to the terminated hitting session.

"I didn't discourage that because it kind of gets them fired up to play a little bit," he said. "Whatever it takes. It's their field and their priority."

The Indians' No. 9 batter Tyler Beussink, who came into the game hitting .250, led the way with a 3-for-4 day. Beussink got an RBI on each of his three singles.

"This is big for us," Beussink said. "We've upset them two years in a row and puts a lot of momentum on our shoulders going into Monday against Cape."

Leadoff batter Jason Owen added a 3-for-5 day. He led the game off with a hit and scored the game's first run and the Indian offense never relented. Jackson scored in every inning but the second and sixth, and all but one starter had a hit.

Notre Dame scored four of its runs in the third inning when it moved ahead 4-2. The Bulldogs combined two hits and Jackson's only two errors for its big inning.

"Before we made errors and we let it bother us," Sides said. "We'd drop our head, and you can't do that. Good teams have to have a very short memory."

Notre Dame took a 5-4 lead into the fifth inning, where Jackson scored three runs and chased starter Wayne Essner.

Tyler Profilet's RBI double tied the game and brought on reliever Blake Urhahn. Meystedt greeted Urhahn with an RBI single that put Jackson ahead for good. Beussink capped the inning with an RBI infield single for a 7-5 lead.

Meystedt allowed just one Notre Dame hit over the final three innings.

"We had no intensity, and didn't seem like we wanted to play today," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "But that's not taking anything away from Jackson. The Meystedt kid did a great job on the mound, and they hit the baseball extremely well. They're a much improved team than we saw earlier."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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