Pitching decisive in Jackson Senior Legion district tournament sweep of Sikeston

Jackson Legion Post 158 AAA faced a best-of-three series with the Sikeston Legion Post 114 Silver Sox going away for the district tournament but dominated in 14-1 and 11-1 results to secure a place in next week’s zone tournament in Ste. Genevieve.

With two one-run performances – Drew Hahs on Monday and Jacob Saffle on Tuesday, with Saffle going hitless on the mound in a six-inning, no-hitter victory – Jackson used a dominant defensive performance to guide the way to a series victory in which the guest outscored the hosting Sox by a 25-2 margin.

“[Saffle] pitched well. He dominated early,” Jackson coach Mark Lewis said. “He threw really well in the first three innings. He lost a little command in the fourth, but we staked into a four-run lead, and that’s always big for a pitcher.”

After a four-run first inning in the second game of the series, Jackson Senior Legion had stolen all momentum from the Silver Sox, pouring on another two runs in the third inning, two in the fourth inning before a three-run fifth inning ended the game via mercy rule.

Leading by eight runs with a runner on base, Jackson’s Seth Abernathy, of Woodland, hit a two-run home run over the wall in right field to notch his second extra-base hit of the evening and walk the game off in five innings.

“[Abernathy] is seeing the ball well right now,” Lewis said. “Hopefully we can keep him hot and have a couple other guys keep doing what they're doing at the plate, because you need that in playoff baseball.

“You're always gonna face tough pitching, so you've got to be able to compete and still keep games close.”

Abernathy led Post 158 with a trio of hits and a walk, batting in five runs in total while scoring three times. Lane VanGennip, Jacob Johnson, Luke Umfleet and Drew Hahs tallied two hits each, continuing the hot streak for a Jackson team that finished with 11 hits.

On the mound, Saffle threw a 102-pitch no-hitter after striking out 10 batters and walking four while drawing a walk and scoring a run offensively.

The win propels Jackson into a zone tournament against some familiar neighbors from the north, including a potential rematch with regional power Festus Post 253 after the two clashed in last year’s zone tournament in Ballwin.

Though a number of strong teams await Post 158 in zone action, Lewis looks to keep the same mentality heading into next week.

“The biggest thing is playing your game,” Lewis said. “Coming in and having the mindset of getting yourself ready to go and playing hard. If they're there, they're good, regardless of the opponent.”