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Sikeston nips Notre Dame in opener
DeHart pinch-hit single leads to 4-2 victory
SIKESTON - The Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team won their season-opener on Tuesday 4-2 on a cold, windy and rainy afternoon at VFW Stadium.
The Bulldogs got a pinch-hit RBI-single by sophomore Cullen DeHart to plate the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Sikeston added one more insurance run to ensure the victory against a Notre Dame team that will be one of the Bulldogs' toughest opponents in the district this year.
Although the Bulldogs didn't hit that well, head coach Kevin Self was just happy to win his first game.
"A 'W' is a 'W'," said Self. "Last year we kind of played the same way against Cape and we came up on the losing end. So hopefully we'll get better from here. I know we will. We just need some games under out belts and some live at-bats. That's where you get better. They've got a good ballclub. They're going to be tough in our district. It makes our district that much tougher."
The Bulldogs came out hot as starting pitcher Lance Rhodes struck out the side in the first inning.
Sikeston's Drew Lawrence then hit the first offering from Blake Urhahn off the right centerfield fence for a double.
Scotty Keenan drove Lawrence home with a single to make it 1-0. After Keenan got caught stealing, Urhahn loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter.
Rhodes helped his own cause with a run-scoring single to plate Blake DeWitt to make it 2-0. But Jacob Priday, who tried to score from second base, was thrown out at home plate by left fielder Wayne Essner.
That was the last runs Sikeston would score until the sixth inning.
"I probably didn't get far enough down the line with Jake," said Self. "He ran through a stop sign and got thrown out. We kind of run ourselves out of an inning or we could've maybe gotten more. After that, Urhahn kind of stuck the bats up our butt. We didn't do much after that."
Urhahn shut the Bulldogs out over the next four innings before being relieved by Essner.
Prior to that, Notre Dame plated a run in the third inning on an infield single by Lee Essner. They tied the game in the fifth inning off reliever DeWitt when Matt Wulfers drove in Essner.
DeWitt got out of the jam when first baseman Zach Fayette caught a line drive and touched first for an unassisted double play.
Dustin Tatum was then thrown out trying to steal third base.
"It was a good ballgame," said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Graviett. "There was good defense, good execution. It was just a great played game and I think we're going to have a bunch of them with them this year."
DeWitt settled down after that and shut out Notre Dame the final two innings, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
Sikeston started the eventual winning rally when Nathan Eaves bunted for a hit and Lance Rhodes singled to left field. After an Adam Miller sacrifice bunt moved the runners over, DeHart blooped a single into left field to score Eaves.
Brad Deere then followed that up with a single to load the bases.
Lawrence then drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Rhodes to reach the final margin of 4-2.
Wayne Essner was charged with the loss in one inning of relief, allowing two runs and four hits.
Urhahn threw five innings, allowing two runs off four hits while striking out five and walking three.
"He's a little further behind than the rest of our pitchers," said Graviett. "He had the kidney injury in the fall with the soccer team and he's been slowly coming back. We tried to keep him under 100 pitches today. He's got a good breaking ball and when he finds control of that he's going to be tough."
DeWitt picked up the win, allowing one unearned run off two hits in three innings. He struck out five and walked one. Rhodes got the no-decision in four innings of work. He allowed one run off four hits while striking out six and walking three.
"One thing you can't do is simulate pitching," said Graviett. "Getting pitchers against live hitters, that's one of the toughest things to do practice-wise. I think both teams saw that today."
Sikeston collected eight hits in the game while Notre Dame had just six hits. Eaves and Rhodes each had two hits.
"When the wind is blowing in like this it's just hard to hit," said Self. "You've got to hit the ball to right and right-center. If you pull it to left field then it's just going to hang up in the air unless you hit it on the ground."