Hit barrage

Bulldog bats heat up in 14-4 win over Kennett

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- It's no secret that Sikeston's pitching staff has been the strength of the team so far this season while the team's offense has been plagued by inconsistency.

But as the spring weather has warmed up this week, so too have the Bulldog bats as they rallied to defeat Kennett 14-4 in six innings on Wednesday at VFW Stadium.

One day after pounding out 14 hits in a 13-2 victory against Carbondale on Tuesday, Sikeston produced 12 more hits yesterday.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Sikeston scored three runs to take a 5-4 lead.

The Bulldogs (7-2) blew the game open with six runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to enforce the 10-run rule.

Seeing his team pull together after falling behind was a welcome sight for head coach Alan Scheeter.

"In the fourth inning I told the guys, 'we've got to chip away. We can't wait until the seventh inning and hope to get three or four runs to take the lead. We need to do something right now. If we score one, whatever it is, we need to start chipping away,'" Scheeter said. "And they responded. That's a problem that we've had in the past, where if we get down and see a little bit of adversity, we'd have a tendency to just kind of sit back and take it. We didn't do that today. We just decided, 'hey, this a district game and a conference game. We're not going to let this thing slip away.'"

Picking up the win on the mound was sophomore lefty Jacob Clark, who came in for relief of starting pitcher Doug Still.

Clark threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.

"You can't say enough about what Jacob did," Scheeter said. "He's bided his time. He had his debut over in Kentucky, came in for one inning and struck out the side. I've known that he's a talented kid, but it just hasn't worked out in our pitching rotation where he's had his opportunity to get out there. Today it worked out and he made the most of it. He kept a really good hitting team off balance. His curve ball was really breaking today and they just weren't able to square up on it."

Kennett (8-3) took the early lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI-single by Tyson Campbell to bring in Akeem Nelson.

Sikeston answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning on a run-scoring single by Gavin O'Brien to bring in Patrick Smith.

The Bulldogs grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second on some heads-up base running by Luis Matos. Trey Tigart struck out swinging but the ball got away from the catcher and Tigart was able to reach first. Matos, who was courtesy running for Jarrett Sandlin, never stopped running all the way from second base and scored the go-ahead run.

The lead was short-lived as Kennett scored three runs in the top of the third inning without recording a hit to take a 4-2 advantage.

Control problems hurt Still in the inning as he walked five and hit a batter. Scheeter lifted him after he issued bases loaded walks to consecutive batters to bring in two runs.

The Bulldogs got out of the jam when Clark entered for relief and struck out Landon Vaughan to record the third out.

Still allowed two hits and struck out four, but walked six in his 2 2/3 innings pitched.

"Doug didn't have his best stuff today," Scheeter said. "He was struggling a little bit. They took good pitches that he threw and they just weren't there."

The Bulldogs went quietly in the third inning, but Colton Black and Cord Sheehy started off the fourth inning with a pair of hits. After a sacrifice bunt by Sandlin moved the runners over, Tigart blooped a run-scoring single into centerfield to cut the lead to 4-3.

After the runners moved up on a wild pitch, Josh Hampton came through with a clutch two-out, two-run single up the middle to bring in the tying and go-ahead runs to lead 5-4.

The Bulldogs continued the onslaught in the bottom of the fifth as the first six batters reached base safely, including four straight hits. The big blow game from Sandlin with a two-run double down the left field line.

Earlier in the inning, O'Brien hit what appeared to be a two-run home run over the left field fence, but it was ruled that the ball hit the yellow padding on the top of the fence and bounced back onto the playing field. With the runner holding halfway between first and second to make sure the ball wasn't caught, O'Brien was held to a long single.

"We didn't throw enough strikes and it got a little tough on us and we quit making plays," Kennett head coach Aaron New said. "Whenever we make plays and we throw strikes, we feel like we can compete with about anybody, and today we just didn't do that for three innings."

Leading 11-4, Sikeston needed three runs in the bottom of the sixth to close out the game.

Sheehy provided a run-scoring single and Tigart ended the game with a two-run single to left field to meet the 10-run rule.

Kennett's Payton Raspberry was saddled with the loss, throwing four innings and allowing five runs off six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

"They swung the bats a little bit and we didn't execute some plays," New said. "When you do that against a team of their caliber, they're going to take advantage of it. They're a good, solid ballclub. They'll be one of the top teams in our district. If they stay healthy they will have a chance to do something."

Of the Bulldogs' 12 hits, eight came from the Nos. 6 through 9 batters.

Sheehy led the way, going 3-3 with three runs scored and two stolen bases.

Tigart went 2-3 with three RBIs and two runs. O'Brien finished 2-3 with two runs and an RBI. Black went 2-4 with two runs scored.

"Those teams that usually go deep into the playoffs and make a run to go to the final four, they've always got their six, seven, eight, nine guys producing," Scheeter said. "You've got to have production, not just from your top five, but you've got to have production one through nine. Everybody's got to contribute if you're really going to beat the good teams. We had production from the bottom yesterday and we had production from the bottom today. If we can continue to do that I like our chances against almost anybody that we play."

Kennett was led by Nelson's two hits, two runs and two steals.

Sikeston's two pitchers combined to strikeout 11 Indian batters.

"It's a really big win for us," Scheeter said. "We've already had two conference losses, but now we're 2-2 in conference and 2-0 in the district. If we go 3-0, that makes a good chance that we can get a one or two seed heading into our district tournament. That's a big difference in a six-team district because you can save one pitcher there."

The Bulldogs will play on Friday at 6 p.m. against Winfield, Mo., at Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Ky.

Kennett plays Nettleton, Ark., and Jackson on Saturday in a double-header.

Kennett 103 000 -- 4 4 1

Sikeston 110 363 -- 14 12 0

WP -- Jacob Clark. LP -- Payton Raspberry. Multiple hitters: (K) Akeem Nelson 2-3; (S) Cord Sheehy 3-3, Colton Black 2-4, Gavin O'Brien 2-3, Trey Tigart 2-3. 2B -- (S) Sandlin.