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Bulldogs take out NMCC
NEW MADRID - The Sikeston Bulldogs bats never stay quiet for very long.
One day after getting shutout and held to two hits by Notre Dame, the Bulldogs exploded for 16 hits in a 12-4 SEMO Conference victory against New Madrid County Central on Wednesday in New Madrid.
It was the big offensive game the Bulldogs needed heading into a clash at Jackson today at 4 p.m.
Sikeston is now 16-5 on the season and finish up the conference schedule with a 7-2 mark in second place behind undefeated Jackson.
"We hit several balls hard today all over the field," said Sikeston coach Kevin Self. "We were able to score runs early and that helps us. That's really our forte. We like to jump on teams early because we're not a team that comes from behind very easily.
"We've only done it once all year. So we came out and scored three in the first inning and we continued it."
Sikeston ripped off three runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back.
Bryce Wibbenmeyer was the winning pitcher as he threw all seven innings. He had a shutout until the bottom of the sixth when NMCC scored all four of its runs.
Wibbenmeyer struck out four, walked four, hit a batter and allowed eight hits. Three of the runs were unearned, but other than one error he was helped by a solid defense that turned two double plays.
"(Bryce) got a little tired and Richie (Landers) usually makes that play nine out of 10 times," said Self. "There's some spots out here that are kind of rough. Cullen (DeHart) about took one off the face off a bad hop. I'm thankful that God spared Cullen on that ground ball. That ball missed him by inches."
After building a 3-0 lead, Sikeston extended it to 4-0 in the third and 7-0 in the fourth after NMCC committed three straight errors.
"We just booted the ball around," said NMCC coach John Jones. "We gave Sikeston as many as six outs in an inning and you can't do that with anybody and expect to win the ballgame."
The Bulldogs extended the lead to 9-0 in the sixth and threatened to put the run-rule in effect.
NMCC cut the lead to 9-4 in the bottom of the sixth with Jordan Kimball's RBI-double being the big blow. He was thrown out trying to extend it to a triple.
"It was just a big-time play by their outfielder and they hit the relay, got it in and made the tag," said Jones. "It took a perfect throw to get him and boy it was. That killed our rally right there."
Sikeston put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh on DeHart's towering 3-run home run to right field.
DeHart was 2-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Landers also had a big game with a 3-4 day and five RBIs.
Tyler Baker went 3-4 with three runs and an RBI. Matt Limbaugh was 3-4 and J.R. Bizzell was 3-5, including a pair of triples, with three runs scored.
Others that contributed were Josh Jackson (2 runs), Ross Merideth (double, run), Eric Chappell (single) and Wibbenmeyer (single, run).
"It's good to win, but the biggest thing I'm trying to tell them is we've got a lot of mental mistakes," said Self. "A lot of little things like signals missed and base running mistakes -- things we cannot do to win our district. There's no doubt that things are set for us in the district. But if we don't come to play then we won't win. We were able to make it work today because we hit the ball, but you can't count on 16 hits in a district game. So we've got to get these mental mistakes erased."
NMCC's (6-9, 3-6 SEMO) Thomas Higgerson was the losing pitcher in all seven innings.
He struck out two and walked three.
Higgerson led the Eagles with two hits and a run.
Michael Morlan, Ryan Lawrence, Dylan Harris, Ben Eakens and Dale Haynes each had one hit.
Colt Pruitt and Kenny Patterson each had RBIs.
The Eagles had eight hits in the game but Jones says they will need more than that to win a district title.
"The top of our order has hit pretty well all year, but we need to get more production out of the bottom of the lineup," said Jones. "Today we just ran into a real good Sikeston team that fields the ball extremely well and gets it where they need to get it."
Sikeston and NMCC could meet again in the district tournament that starts Monday. Sikeston is seeded first and NMCC is fifth and if both win in the first round they would meet in the semifinals on Tuesday.
Box Score
Sikeston 12, NMCC 4
| Sikeston 301 302 3 | -- | 12 | 16 | 1 |
| NMCC 000 004 0 | -- | 4 | 8 | 4 |
WP -- Bryce Wibbenmeyer. LP -- Thomas Higgerson. HR -- Cullen DeHart (S). 3B -- Bizzell 2 (S). 2B -- Baker 2 (S), Landers (S), Kimball (NM). Multiple hits -- Sikeston, J.R. Bizzell 2-5, DeHart 2-5, Tyler Baker 3-4, Richard Landers 3-4, Matt Limbaugh 3-5. Records -- Sikeston 16-5. NMCC 6-9.
Sikeston won the JV matchup against NMCC 2-0 behind a combined shutout by Joey Williams and Dustin Barker to improve to 14-2.
Williams, the winning pitcher, threw three innings and allowed one hit and one walk. Barker pitched two innings and allowed one hit with three strikeouts.
Cody Anderson led all hitters with a 3-3 day. Austin Williams was 1-3 and Joey Williams was 1-2. Chase Ferrell had an RBI.
The Oran Eagles improved to 15-6 on the season with five-inning run rule victory against Hayti
Oran hurler Paul Bucher threw all five innings in getting the win. He allowed seven hits and six runs (four earned) with six strikeouts and two walks.
Bucher also went 2-4 with a double and a home run and three RBIs.
Freshman Caleb Seyer continued his hot hitting as he clubbed his ninth home run of the year while going 2-2.
Trevor Irwin was 2-4 with two doubles, Austin Dumey was 2-3 and Joey Williams was 2-3 with a double. Chase Seyer was 1-4 with three RBIs.
Hayti's Timmy Gardner was the losing pitcher in 2 1/3 innings.
Josh White had a home run with three RBIs and Dylan Gurley was 2-3.
Oran will play at East Prairie today at 4 p.m. in a game that will decide the Scott-Mississippi Conference title. Both enter with 4-0 records.