Marching on: Jackson opens with 16-13 win over Sikeston

~ The local squad will face the top-seeded Scott County today.

The Jackson players knew the offense would come around. It was only a matter of time.

The Jackson American Legion baseball team fell behind early, but the offense awoke to plate double-digit runs as Jackson knocked off Sikeston 16-13 in the first game of the District 14 tournament Monday at Capaha Field.

"It's nine innings," Jackson shortstop Nick D'Amico said. "You've got to know that you have that much time to battle and just chip away runs like that. Patience at the plate really helps you."

Patience was the key for Jackson as four of their runs scored on bases loaded walks. D'Amico also helped with plating runs as he went 2-for-5, including a solo homer to left field, and knocked in three runs.

Jackson Legion's Jake Hime stole second, beating the tag by Sikeston second baseman Austin Williams during the first inning.

"I just saw the ball real well tonight," D'Amico said. "Guys made a couple mistakes and I hit them pretty good. Other than that, I just saw the ball real well and stayed patient."

Jackson had 10 different batters knock in at least one run in the victory.

"I felt good about our hitters," Jackson coach Mark Lewis said. "They stayed with it and battled all night."

Jackson advances to face Scott County, the top seed, in the 5 p.m. game today.

Jackson jumped out to an 11-5 lead after six innings and looked ready to end the nine-inning game early, but Sikeston rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh to make it a one-run ballgame. Sikeston was poised to pull ahead until Travis Hurst got Josh Stevens to ground into a double play to end the threat.

"A couple double plays helped us out of innings," Lewis said. "In that type of game, you don't know. What's the winning run going to be?"

Jackson pushed the lead back to five runs with four runs in its half of the seventh. D'Amico smacked a sacrifice fly to left field for one run and Dillon Jenkins, Daniel Smith and Blake Reiminger coaxed bases loaded walks to plate the other runs.

The outcome wasn't decided yet as Sikeston tried to rally in the ninth. Two walks sandwiched between a triple and a single scored one run and two more runs scored on bases- loaded walks, bringing the potential winning run to the plate. But Hurst got Tyler Scott to fly out to center field to end the game.

Sikeston only had eight hits in the game. It scored its five runs in the seventh with the benefit of one hit. It used five walks, a hit batter and an error to plate the runs.

Jackson now turns its attention to Scott County, which has won 15 of its last 16 games.

"Pitching has been the key all year," D'Amico said. "We've had our ups and downs with our pitching. [Today] the key will be pitching."

Jackson used two pitchers in its win Monday night -- Isaac Kinnard, who went six-plus innings, and Hurst. Lewis said it's a balancing act to manage the pitching staff. He doesn't want to burn through pitchers since the team would have to win three more games to capture the tournament title.

"To be honest, right now I go inning by inning," Lewis said. "You try to develop your staff through the season to where you can have a guy come in and give you an out or give you a strike even. I wouldn't say there's a universal rule there, but it worked tonight."

Lewis admitted that pitching will determine his team's fate against the powerful Scott County team.

"We have to come out and play well defensively and obviously get a well-pitched game," Lewis said. "They're a good ballclub. We got to come out and play a good ballgame for Jackson and go from there."