Dexter upsets Notre Dame

DEXTER - The Dexter Bearcats broke the .500 mark as they added a win and moved to 2-1 on the season following a 9-8 win over SEMO Conference rival Notre Dame.

Josh Lilly started on the mound for Dexter. He lasted four innings before giving up seven runs on seven hits.

Head coach Brian Becker would then pull Lilly and put in Geoff Mouser who would go 2 1/3 innings, giving up one run and three hits while striking out two.

The 'Cats would fall behind early Scott Wittenborn hit an RBI-double that would score Kyle Diveley in the top of the second.

A big third inning would see the Bearcats score five runs. Their lead wouldn't last long as the Bulldogs scored three in the fourth and one in the fifth to go up 7-5 going into the bottom half of the fifth.

Dexter would score three runs on three hits and an error to go up 8-7.

That's where they would stay until the final inning.

In the seventh, Notre Dame's Blake Urhahn led off with a single and would eventually score.

This put some pressure on the Bearcats as extra innings loomed if they didn't score.

Following a walk, John Guite stepped to first as the courtesy runner and would eventually score the winning run for the Bearcats.

The 9-8 win gave the 'Cats a big win as the Bulldogs have already beaten Chaffee and Cape Central, both conference teams.

Leaders for the 'Cats were Josh Lilly who went 3-for-3 and picked up a trio of RBIs. Cody Boyer finished the day going 2-3 with a pair of RBIs.

In the JV game, the Bearcats picked up a win 9-3.

Next on the schedule for the Bearcats are the Sikeston Bulldogs when they travel to Dexter on Monday at 4 p.m.

CHAFFEE - Chaffee Red Devil pitcher Chase Eskew pitched a no-hitter against conference rival Delta on Wednesday en route to an 18-0 victory at Harmon Field.

The game was stopped after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Eskew struck out eight batters and walked two.

"It was a nice game for us even though it was a little cold," said Chaffee head coach Brian Horrell. "Chase Eskew had a very good outing, he threw the ball extremely well and kept the ball down nice and low. He had pretty good control and I was very pleased with his outing."

Leading 3-0, the Red Devils (3-2, 1-0 Scott-Mississippi) exploded in the third inning for 14 runs to blow the game wide open.

Chaffee pounded out 11 hits in the game while the Bobcats committed seven errors.

"I think their pitcher just started to tire a little bit and we were able to sit back and wait on the ball more," said Horrell. "We were able to adjust to him a second time around, plus we took advantage of a few miscues and really got the ball going."

Sam Burnett led the Red Devils' offensive attack, going 3-4 with four RBIs and four runs.

Others were James Reischman (1-2, 2 RBIs), Brent Thomason (1-3, RBI), Brandon Davis (1-2, RBI) and Andrew Horrell (1-2, 2 RBIs).

Chaffee will play at Scott Central today at 4:30 p.m.

POPLAR BLUFF - The Kelly Hawks' late-inning struggles continued on Wednesday when they blew a two-run seventh inning lead to Poplar Bluff.

The Hawks (0-4, 0-4 SEMO Conference) led 5-1 after four innings of play but couldn't hold on.

"Once again we just couldn't hang on," said Kelly head coach John Gant. "We've been struggling late in games since the start of the season. We're just going to have to dig a little deeper and find out what's going on and see if we can change things up."

Poplar Bluff (3-3, 3-2 SEMO) was able to plate three runs in the fifth and seventh innings to pull out the win.

Kelly's Tyler Schlosser pitched five solid innings, allowing one run off five hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

Garrett Stricker was saddled with the loss in relief.

"Tyler came out and threw one heckuva game," said Gant. "He left it all out there. He threw five real strong innings for us. I have no complaints about Tyler. He threw really well."

Barry Zeigler led the Hawks with two hits and two RBIs.

Kelly will host Charleston today at 4 p.m.

(Some information provided by the Southeast Missouri News Service).