Whiteside pitches Jackson baseball team past New Madrid

Just call Avery Whiteside the iron man of the Jackson High School baseball team this week.

Make that iron arm.

Whiteside, one day after pitching three innings of relief, fired a complete game as the Indians beat visiting New Madrid County Central 5-1.

"My arm was sore before the game but it loosened up," Whiteside said.

The Indians, who improved to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in SEMO Conference play with the victory Thursday at Whitey Herzog Stadium, have two key games Saturday against district opponents.

Jackson second baseman Ryan O’Rear tags out New Madrid County Central’s Tim Clayton during the fourth inning Thursday in Jackson. The Indians won 5-1. (Fred Lynch)

Jackson coach Tatum Kitchen, seeking to preserve as much pitching as possible for those road matchups against Hillsboro and Farmington, hoped Whiteside could squeeze out a few innings.

"Avery only threw maybe 25 pitches," Kitchen said, referring to Avery's one-run performance during Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Ste. Genevieve Valle. "Our hope was maybe we can get four innings out of him today. But he just did a great job.

"He only threw about 75 or 80 pitches. He's not overpowering, but he throws strikes and he works fast."

Whiteside, a junior left-hander, kept the Eagles off balance all day with a biting curve. He allowed just three hits, struck out four and walked four.

"It was working real good," Whiteside said about his breaking ball. "I was just trying to do my best for the team."

Jackson third baseman Cody Harris throws to first base in the third inning to retire a New Madrid County Central batter.

The Eagles (5-2) scored their only run in the seventh inning on a two-out error.

"It's all right," said Whiteside about missing the shutout. "The main thing is we won."

Despite the late error, the Indians' played strong defense behind Whiteside most of the game.

Senior center fielder Lane Thompson made diving catches to rob NMCC of hits on consecutive plays in the second inning.

Thompson also gunned down Tim Clayton at second base in the fourth inning as he tried to stretch a leadoff single into a double.

"He had a really good game for us," Kitchen said. "Two great catches, threw a guy out at second and he had a key sacrifice bunt."

The Indians' stellar pitching and defense allowed them to overcome an offense that produced just four singles.

"We'll get it going," said senior second baseman Ryan O'Rear, who had two of Jackson's three RBIs. "Overall it was a good bounce-back [win]. We needed it."

NMCC pitcher Jashawn McDaniel allowed three hits and three runs in five innings, with three strikeouts and two walks.

"We've struggled [offensively]. A lot of games we come out flat early," Kitchen said. "But a lot of it, I thought their pitcher was good."

Jackson broke a scoreless tie with a third-inning run that was technically earned but probably shouldn't have scored.

Junior catcher Jordan Hadden led off with a single for Jackson's first hit. Junior courtesy runner Kody Kingree stole second.

Senior left fielder Trent Wills' one-out ground ball to the left side would have been a routine play at first base but third baseman Lane Chamberlain elected to try and tag Kingree heading to third.

Kingree raced past Chamberlain before he could make the tag as Wills reached on the fielder's choice.

O'Rear then lofted a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Kingree with the game's first run.

The Indians made it 3-0 in the fifth inning despite having just one hit.

Hadden, the No. 8 batter, drew a leadoff walk. Thompson sacrificed Kingree, again running for Hadden, to second. Kingree moved to third on a wild pitch and, after Wills walked, scored on O'Rear's RBI single.

Wills stole third and came home on a wild pitch.

"We were able to manufacture some runs," Kitchen said.

Jackson opened a 5-0 cushion with two unearned runs in the sixth inning, taking advantage of NMCC's only two errors. Wills had an RBI single for the lone hit of the frame.

"We didn't hit the ball well, but we played good defense and I was really pleased with our pitching," Kitchen said. "We're 2-1 in the conference now, which is big."

NMCC 000 000 1 -- 1 3 2

Jackson 001 022 x -- 5 4 2

WP -- Avery Whiteside. LP -- Jashawn McDaniel. 2B -- Logan Frazier (NMCC), Austin Lynn (NMCC). Records -- NMCC 5-2, Jackson 7-3.