Bulldogs top Charleston 15-0 in five innings

CHARLESTON -- Sikeston and Charleston form one of the most intense rivalries in area high school sports, but there are times when the competition is used for a good cause.

The "Rivals for a Cure" theme has been used the past couple years the two schools have met on the baseball diamond and that continued on Tuesday at Charleston's Hillhouse Park.

Last year proceeds from the game went to the mammography department at Missouri Delta Medical Center.

This year, t-shirts and special items were raffled off with proceeds going to the Marshall Pullen Foundation to help a 4-year-old boy that has been diagnosed with a Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid tumor.

"Tonight was about more than baseball," Charleston coach Michael Minner said. "We've got a special situation and every time that we play Sikeston we're going to do something special for cancer. Anything we can do to help somebody get through their time of need is what this night is about. I'm proud of both communities. We come together for a great cause and tonight was a success."

Sikeston won the game 15-0 in five innings against the Bluejays to improve the Bulldogs to 10-2 on the season.

Sikeston took advantage of several Charleston miscues in the field in the top of the first inning, leading to a quick 3-0 advantage. The lead ballooned 7-0 in the second inning and 12-0 after three.

Charleston (3-11) committed six errors in the first two innings of the game.

The Bulldogs took full advantage with the extra chances as the bats came alive with 14 hits in the game.

"Any time a team is going to help you out you have to take the help that they're going to give you," Sikeston coach Alan Scheeter said. "And when they do that, you've got to step up and take some your own and I thought we did a good job of that. We hit a lot of hard line drive balls today, a couple of them right at people, but we also had a couple little bleeders that fell in, so it all kind of equals out. I was pleased with how we swung the bats."

Meanwhile, Sikeston's pitching combination of senior Luis Matos and junior Doug Still kept the Bluejays' offense at bay.

Matos, a native of Puerto Rico who was seeing his first action on the mound this season, threw three scoreless innings, allowing two hits with two walks to pick up the win.

"I was pleased with what Luis did," Scheeter said. "He walked the first two batters in the second inning and I walked out there and talked to him -- settled him down. He was a little nervous. You know he's only a 16-year-old senior. When he moved here he was a couple grades ahead of where his age is. So he's still got a little bit of growing to do in that respect. He's come a long way in the past couple years we've had him. He threw three really strong innings today. I was proud of him."

Still threw two innings of relief, allowing no hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

The Bulldogs got three runs in the first inning helped by three Bluejay errors.

Josh Hampton and Cord Sheehy had the only hits in the inning.

Sikeston plated four more runs in the top of the second. Drew Harper and Gavin O'Brien each had run-scoring singles.

In the top of the third, the Bulldogs blew the game open with five runs. Tyler Anderson and Colton Black each had run-scoring singles. Harper blasted a two-run double down the left field line.

"I wouldn't want to pitch against those guys," Minner said. "There's no breathing room. That's a dang good baseball team. We knew we were going to have our hands full and we had to play flawless and we just didn't. And things got away from us early. Defensively we just weren't very good today."

The Bulldogs added three runs in the top of the fifth to round out the scoring. Sophomore Jacob Clark had an RBI-single and sophomore Luke Williams had a sacrifice fly to bring in another run.

The Bluejays' Ryan Housman threw three innings in taking the loss on the mound. Casey Tatum threw the final two innings in relief.

Trey Watkins had two doubles to account for Charleston's only hits.

"We're trying to get kids to buy into the system right now," Minner said. "We go two steps forward and then we go three back. We're still setting our goals for the end of the year. We're going to continue to play these games. We're going to play the Sikestons. We're going to play the Cape Centrals. We're going to play those tough teams because we need to see that good competition. We've got to see where we want to be. I watched them take infield. I want my guys to mimic what Sikeston did on the infield today. They're just a tremendous ballclub. Alan Scheeter is a class act. They work their tails off and they're a great baseball team. They do things the right way and they're very cordial with us. I want the best for them too."

Sikeston was led in hitting by Hampton (2-2, 2 runs), Harper (2-3, 3 RBIs, 3 runs), O'Brien (2-3, RBI, 2 runs) and Dylan Mason (2-2, 2 runs).

Scheeter also singled out Sheehy, who has been swinging a hot bat lately. Sheehy went 1-1 with two RBIs.

"Gavin O'Brien and Cord Sheehy are really seeing the ball well today," Scheeter said. "They stung the ball today and they have been the past four or five games. The ball is really jumping off their bat. Drew stung a couple good ones today too."

Charleston will host Chaffee today at 4 p.m.

Sikeston will host Malden on Friday at 4 p.m.

Sikeston 345 03 -- 15 14 0

Charleston 000 00 -- 0 2 6

WP -- Luis Matos. LP -- Ryan Housman. Multiple hitters: (S) Josh Hampton 2-2, Drew Harper 2-3, Gavin O'Brien 2-3, Dylan Mason 2-2; (C) Trey Watkins 2-2. 2B -- (S) Harper, O'Brien; (C) Watkins 2.