Sikeston romps in championship game

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Playing its fourth game in two days, Notre Dame Regional High School simply ran out of fumes Tuesday night in a 13-2 five-inning loss to top seed Sikeston in the SEMO Conference championship game at VFW Stadium.

Little-used Tony Longman got the start for the Bulldogs with main starters Blake Urhahn and Lee Essner unavailable. Sikeston jumped on Longman for six runs in only 1 2/3 innings. Blake Essner pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing two home runs in the fifth that ended the game.

"Our expectations were we wanted to compete," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said of his pitching-depleted team. "We knew with Sikeston's hitters it was going to be tough."

Both teams had won two tournament game Monday and were coming off nontournament wins earlier in the day. Sikeston (18-1) shut out Scott City 13-0, while Notre Dame held off St. Vincent 6-4. Notre Dame (15-5) used Kirk Boeller on the mound against St. Vincent, giving him some of his first varsity time on the mound.

While Notre Dame's staff was on its last leg, Sikeston was able to throw senior Blake DeWitt, who allowed only two runs on four hits over five innings.

"We still had Blake left, and he wanted the ball so we gave it to him," Sikeston coach Kevin Self said.

Sikeston banged out 15 hits, with the big blows coming from the bats of Lance Rhodes and Nathan Eaves. Rhodes hit a two-run home run in the fifth, and three batters later Eaves ended the game with a three-run home run over the left field wall.

Self said his players really wanted to get that third straight conference championship.

"Our kids when we got to the ballpark I could tell in their eyes that they were focused and ready to play," he said.

Despite the loss, Notre Dame still may have another shot at Sikeston in the district final, an upset it accomplished last year. Notre Dame is the only team to beat Sikeston this year and is 1-2 in the season series.

"We got second place overall in the conference and second in the tournament. That's nothing to hang your head about," Graviett said.

In the third-place game Jackson defeated Dexter 6-3. Jackson, with key district games against Poplar Bluff and Central still ahead of it this week, used sophomore Joel Penrod on the mound. Penrod picked up the win pitching five-plus innings.

Derrick Biri had three hits for Jackson (13-5) and Rex Meyr had a pair of hits.