Junior Legion wins tourney

JEFFERSON CITY - The Sikeston Junior Legion Auxiliary Unit 114 baseball team took first place in the Exchange Bank Classic held in Jefferson City over the weekend.

Sikeston (14-5) lost in the first round to Jefferson City 7-5, but came back to win the next two games to capture first place in the six-team round robin.

"It's pretty big to win the tournament," said Sikeston head coach Jeff Limbaugh. "We haven't been playing real well but we seemed to come together up there. We were away from home and we played better."

In the first game on Saturday, Jordan Kimball took the loss for Unit 114, throwing five innings and allowing seven runs (five earned) off five hits and seven walks. He struck out four.

Matt Limbaugh went 2-3 with a double while J.R. Bizzell went 2-3 with an RBI. Kimball, Joe Lincoln and Ben Walters each had hits. Kimball, Zach Dill and Eric Chappell each had RBIs.

In Sikeston's second game, they defeated Baldwin out of St. Louis 13-5 in five innings.

The tournament established an eight-run mercy rule after five innings.

Ross Merideth got the win, throwing four innings and allowing three runs off two hits. He walked one and struck out three. Dill struck out two in one inning of relief.

Walters went 2-4 with a double and three RBIs. Dill was 2-3 with two runs and an RBI. Limbaugh went 2-3 with three RBIs. Kimball, Bizzell and Cullen DeHart each had hits. DeHart also had an RBI.

In the championship game, Sikeston beat Cape Girardeau 9-1 in five innings.

DeHart got the win, throwing five innings and allowing one run off seven hits. He struck out six and walked one.

He helped his own cause by going 3-3 with an RBI.

Jordan Penn collected two hits. Kimball had a double with three RBIs. Andy Gantner cracked a solo home run.

Others were Cody Black (RBI), Dill (1-2), Walters (1-2, 2 RBIs), Tyler Baker (1-2) and Ryan Adams (1-1).

"We're starting to hit the ball with the weather heating up a bit," said Limbaugh. "Our pitching's been good all year and we're playing a little better defense. We've had 10 games called off from rain so our pitching's going to be tested as we make these games up."

Sikeston will play against Ballard County (Ky.) on Friday at 5 p.m. in the Cape Junior Legion Tournament.