Sikeston tumbles in Class 3A semis

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For the last three games, the Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team has faced arguably three of the toughest pitchers in the state.

They may have faced the best pitcher yet in Friday's Class 3A semifinal game against St. Mary's of St. Louis at Taylor Stadium.

Junior hurler Ron Martin, a 6-foot-4 southpaw, shut down the Bulldog offense through the first five innings, and came back in for relief in the seventh to hold off Sikeston 8-4 to advance to the championship game.

The Bulldogs (21-3) will play Ozark in the third-place game today. Platte County defeated Ozark 10-3 in the other semifinal.

Martin threw 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win. He allowed one unearned run off six hits while striking out five and walking one.

"He was a little better than advertised -- film didn't do him justice," said Sikeston head coach Kevin Self.

"He threw the ball well and he's another left-hander. You'd think we could hit left-handers but they've given us trouble pretty much all year. This kid was good and he gave us trouble."

Martin struck out 19 batters in St. Mary's 3-0 quarterfinal win against St. Charles West, so keeping Sikeston's bats quiet was no surprise to St. Mary's head coach Joe Wessels.

"He can dominate -- he throws the ball 87 to 88 miles per hour," said Wessels.

St. Mary's (19-5) tagged Sikeston starter Chris Cota for four runs in the first inning. Josh Morgan put the Dragons on top with a three-run home run to make it 3-0. After Martin doubled, Kevin Trott had an RBI-single to make it 4-0, knocking Cota out of the game.

Sophomore Blake DeWitt came in to try to keep the damage to a minimum, but the Dragons put together a two-out rally in the second inning to blow the game open. With five singles and a hit batter, St. Mary's built an 8-0 lead to chase DeWitt from the hill.

Sikeston scored all of its runs in the seventh off reliever Nick Badalamenti before Martin returned to squelch the rally.