Sikeston baseball team's offense roughs up Kelly

~ The Hawks only collected one hit in their season opener

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A day after suffering an 11-7 loss to rival Notre Dame in their season opener, the Sikeston Bulldogs let loose some frustration on the visiting Kelly Hawks.

The Bulldogs blanked Kelly 17-0 at VFW Memorial Stadium on 16 hits Wednesday for their first win of the season.

"They're a really good hitting ballclub," Kelly coach Josh Eftink said. "Whenever they are working ahead in the count, they really sit dead red on some fastballs and hit it hard."

Trent McMillan, who also started on the mound, roped an RBI double to left-center field pushing across Drew Harper and Nathan Rodgers for an early 2-0 lead.

Sikeston third baseman Drew Harper tags out Kelly's Ian Householder while trying to advance to third on a ground ball during Wednesday's game in Sikeston, Mo. (CHRIS POBST ~ Sikeston Standard Democrat)

The Bulldogs continued their barrage in the second inning by scoring 10 runs on seven hits. Sikeston sent 15 batters to the plate during the frame.

"We gave them a few extra on some balls that we misread," Eftink said. "For us, it was a typical first game. You could tell we were a little jittery out there."

Sikeston (1-1) added three more in the bottom of the third behind a two-run triple from Evan Underwood and an RBI single from Cord Sheehy.

Sikeston added its last two runs in the fourth inning behind an RBI double from Clayton Driskill and a sacrifice fly by Underwood.

While Sikeston's bats did most of the talking, McMillan matched the offense's surge on the mound. McMillan allowed just one hit in his five innings of work. He also struck out four and walked three.

"Trent threw extremely well today," Sikeston coach Kevin Self said. "He gave up one hit and that was in the first inning. After that, he shut them down."

His lone hit allowed was a line drive past a diving Blake Newman at second off the bat of Ian Householder in the top of the first inning.

McMillan had three 1-2-3 innings to maintain the shutout.

"He just did a good job of coming right at us," Eftink said. "They got him a lead early and whenever you pitch with a lead, you don't worry about mixing it up a whole lot. You just go after hitters.

"We hit the ball, but they made plays behind him too."

Householder suffered the loss for Kelly (0-1). He threw the first two innings until giving way to Michael Kuykendall to start the third.

"It was one of those first-game scenarios where he was trying to throw a little too hard and got behind in some counts," Eftink said. "We never really got ahead enough to work some offspeed stuff. But it's early and he got his pitch count up to around 70, so that's good for building arm strength for later on."

Householder was responsible for 12 runs, nine earned, on 10 hits and five walks. He struck out one.

Kelly 000 00 -- 0

Sikeston 2(10)3 2x -- 17

WP -- Trent McMillan. LP -- Ian Householder. 2B -- Drew Harper (S), McMillan (S), Blake Newman (S), Tyler Anderson (S), Caleb Pruitt (S), Clayton Driskill (S). 3B -- Evan Underwood (S). HR -- Jacob Wilson (S).