Sikeston routs Jackson

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston 12-year-old all-star team continued its quest for a third straight state championship on Friday with an 8-2 victory against Jackson in the Missouri State Cal Ripken Baseball Tournament at the Recreational Complex.

Sikeston got a strong pitching performance from Trey Tigart and a two-run home run from Tyler Anderson to help seal the victory.

The tournament was scheduled to resume on Saturday with Sikeston playing Mineral Area in the winner's bracket semifinals.

The finals are scheduled for today. Results from those games will be in Monday's edition.

The 12-year-old team won state championships as 10- and 11-year-olds. In addition, the group won regional championships both times.

Sikeston's Trey Tigart throws a pitch.

Sikeston's Trey Tigart throws a pitch.

The team moved a step closer to a three-peat with Tigart's effort on the hill.

The right-hander threw all six innings. He struck out seven, walked three and allowed five hits in getting the victory.

"He started out a little slow -- he walked a couple batters in the first inning, but he settled down and started hitting his spots," said Sikeston coach Rod Anderson. "He's not going to overpower anybody, but he his spots and lets his defense play behind him."

Sikeston took a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning helped by numerous Jackson errors and wild pitches. The wildness of Jackson pitcher Jacob Smith led to his removal from the mound in the inning.

Josiah McGuire replaced him, but he had control problems too.

Jackson cut the lead to 6-1 in the top of the third, but Anderson unloaded his two-run bomb that put the game out of reach.

"He was pretty-well focused," said coach Anderson of his son, Tyler. "He drew three walks in last night's game and I told him to be patient at the plate with the injury to Drew Harper. When he got his pitch he didn't miss it. He's seeing the ball pretty well."

Sikeston only had three hits with Tyler Neal and Lucas Houchin collecting the other two.

"We're working with the boys on being patient at the plate and working the pitch count," said Anderson. "We want to work on getting good pitches we can drive. We only had three hits, but we had some pretty good smashes that went right at people. Everybody got a look at the pitcher early and their pitcher got a little wild and we were able to get some runs off him. Tyler Neal had just one hit, but all three times at the plate he hit it pretty hard."

Jackson added a run in the fifth inning but couldn't get any closer.