TIGERS SUFFER 15-2 LOSS TO SIKESTON

The Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team has fared pretty well against the Cape Central Tigers the last few years.

Until the Tigers' upset of the Bulldogs in last year's district title game, Sikeston had defeated Cape Central seven straight times.

The Bulldogs (3-0, 3-0 SEMO Conference) had to wait a year, but they got some redemption by dominating the Tigers (3-2, 2-1) 15-2 in five innings on Wednesday afternoon at Cape Central High School.

The Bulldogs pounded out a season-high 14 hits off four Cape pitchers.

"We didn't play well at all," said Cape Central head coach Steve Williams. "Sikeston played very well. They hit the ball all day long. We threw four guys at them and none of them were able to get them out very often. They had (14) hits and most of them were pretty solid.

"We couldn't get them out today and we weren't very enthused to play today for some reason."

Sikeston scored 14 of its 15 runs in the first three innings.

Bobby Landers provided the big hit in a five-run first with a three-run home run over the left field fence.

The Tigers got two runs in the bottom of the first when Dusty Barrows and Travis Wissman had back-to-back bloop RBI-singles to make it 5-2.

The Bulldogs answered in the top of the second when Jamie Puckett knocked in Blake DeWitt with a triple and Kent Chappell followed up with a run-scoring single to make it 7-2.

The Bulldogs put the game away in the top of the third when they sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs to extend the lead to 14-2.

Ben Nelson picked up the win for Sikeston, allowing two runs off seven hits with a pair of strikeouts and only one walk in five innings.

Garrett, DeWitt, Puckett, Nelson and Drew Lawrence all had two hits for the Bulldogs. Chappell and Landers each had three RBIs.

Cape starter Justin Welker took the loss, going 2 1/3 innings and allowing eight runs off eight hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

Travis Wissman and Zac Fidler each had two hits for the Tigers.