May 21, 2014
Wild finish ends season for Bulldogs
sports@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Sikeston senior lefty Doug Still was as dominant as ever in Tuesday's Class 3, District 1 semifinal game against Kennett. But Kennett ace Tyson Campbell was just as sharp and got the biggest play of the game from his defense as the second-seeded Indians held on to defeat No. 3 Sikeston 5-4 at VFW Stadium...
By Derek James - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
SIKESTON -- Sikeston senior lefty Doug Still was as dominant as ever in Tuesday's Class 4, District 1 semifinal game against Kennett.
But Kennett ace Tyson Campbell was just as sharp and got the biggest play of the game from his defense as the second-seeded Indians held on to defeat No. 3 Sikeston 5-4 at VFW Stadium.
The Indians (18-6) advance to the district championship game tonight to take on top-seeded Notre Dame at 7 p.m.
Sikeston's season ends at 14-11.
It was a thrilling, but heartbreaking finish for the Bulldogs.
Trailing 5-2 entering the top of the seventh inning, Sikeston put together a two-out rally to load the bases.
With the season on the line, Colton Hampton came through with a clutch hit as he lined a hard single into centerfield to bring in two runs. Kennett centerfielder D.K. Wallace briefly bobbled the ball, but recovered and came up with a perfect throw to third to nab Sikeston's Audi Hay trying to reach third from first.
It ended the game and the season for the Bulldogs as the Indians players ran onto the field in celebration.
The stunned Bulldog players could only watch in disbelief.
"I think it was mainly just a little bit of miscommunication," Sikeston coach Alan Scheeter said. "We've got bases loaded and a sharp single to the outfield and my focus turns to the runner at second. He's coming around third base and I'm holding him up because the ball is hit so sharply, and then it was bobbled so I start waving him. And as I wave him, Audi picks me up and he sees me waving so he comes on over to third thinking I'm waving him when I'm actually waving Trey (Smith). Still yet that's an aggressive play and it took a perfect throw to get him out."
Kennett head coach Aaron New said it was a heads-up play by one of his senior leaders.
"A good hustle play -- a smart play," New said. "He knew where the tying run was. Came in, instead of trying to field the ball, he just come over and knocked it down and then just made a nice play to throw the guy out at third base to end the game."
It was the kind of defensive play that wasn't the norm in this game as neither side's defense helped out its pitcher much. Both teams had three errors apiece.
Campbell completely shut down Sikeston's offense, limiting them to just four hits while striking out 11. But he pitched himself into plenty of trouble as he walked eight and hit three batters.
But each time Campbell pitched himself into trouble, he would seem to get a crucial strikeout when he really needed it.
"That's Tyson Campbell for you," Scheeter said. "It's almost like he's toying with us. 'Here I'll give you a couple base runners.' Then one-two-three strikes, you're out. One-two-three strikes, you're out. We just never could find a way to get a hit when we really had runners in scoring position and when we really needed it."
The Bulldogs stranded 12 base runners in the game.
Still baffled Kennett batters throughout the game as well, striking out a whopping 16 batters, but a few well-placed infield singles, five walks and a hit batter hurt his cause.
In his six innings he allowed seven hits, only three of which reached the outfield.
Sixteen of Kennett's 18 recorded outs were strikeouts.
But, one bad inning proved fatal for Still and the Bulldogs.
WIth the Bulldogs leading 2-1, Still started the bottom of the fourth with two walks and a hit batter. A wild pitch allowed Dalton Craig to score the tying run.
"He just lost his command a little bit," Scheeter said. "I think the ball was moving and running a little bit more on him than what it normally does."
Then Wallace hit a single to right field to bring in Payton Burke to give the Indians a 3-2 lead.
After walking Landon Vaughan to load the bases, Still struck out Kennett star Kevonte Mitchell for the second time in the game in an epic at-bat to record the first out of the inning and bring the Sikeston crowd to its feet.
But an infield single by Campbell brought home another run to extend the lead to 4-2.
A fielder's choice by Bud Hilburn scored another run. The Bulldogs nearly turned a double play but the throw was just late in getting Hilburn at first.
Still was able to strikeout Trevor Shaver to end the inning but the damage was done.
"When you're facing a pitcher of that caliber you've got to string together a few good at-bats and we were able to have a few good at-bats in that inning," New said. "Other than that he kept us at bay most of the night. He's a great pitcher but we were able to put together a pretty good inning on him there."
Still settled down from that point, striking out the side in the fifth and striking out two more batters in a scoreless sixth to give his team one final chance.
"I told the kids before we came in, 'lets give ourselves an opportunity to at least tie the ballgame. Lets see what we're made of right here,'" Scheeter said. "We found a way to get people on base and before you know it, it's a ballgame."
The game started well for the Bulldogs as Campbell faced his own control issues early, walking two batters and hitting a batter.
A ground ball by Adam Kennard to shortstop was mishandled and the throw to get the force out at second was late, allowing Hampton to score to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Still was brilliant early, striking out seven of the first nine batters he faced.
Kennett was able to tie the game after Wallace led off the third inning with a single. He stole second and attempted to steal third, but the throw got by the third baseman and went into left field, allowing Wallace to score the tying run.
Still went on to load the bases with a walk and two singles, but he struck out Hilburn and Shaver to end the threat.
Sikeston reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth when Blake Wolferding doubled into left centerfield. Trey Smith filled in as courtesy runner, was successfully sacrificed to third by Chase Gaines, and scored on a wild pitch to lead 2-1.
In the Bulldogs' next at-bat in the fifth -- after Kennett had staked its 5-2 lead the previous inning -- Sikeston loaded the bases but left the runners stranded after Campbell got a strikeout and a groundout back to the mound to end the threat.
The Bulldogs went quietly in the sixth before putting together its final rally in the seventh.
Wolferding collected two of the Bulldogs' four hits.
Wallace and Campbell each had two hits for the Indians.
Sikeston will graduate four seniors this season: Still, Kennard, Colton Black and Gavin O'Brien.
"You hate to lose these seniors," Scheeter said. "Three two-year starters and Adam was a first-year starter for us and got some quality pinch hits last year and DH'd a couple of games. You look at them -- all four of them were all-conference and all four of them were all-district. You can't say enough about what they did for our program. We're losing our top two pitchers and our top four hitters and both corner infield positions. We've got a lot to fill with those four guys being gone. Their hard work, their dedication and what they've given up and the sacrifices they've made for Sikeston baseball will be remembered."
After graduating eight seniors from last season, Scheeter knew there may be some growing pains this year with so many inexperienced players filling the lineup.
"One of the biggest joys I'm going to take away from this season is what I got from these kids," Scheeter said. "Early in the season there was kind of a distance between the kids and me. But by the end of the year I felt real close to them and I think they felt the same way back towards me. And hopefully that will build on for what we got going on next year."
Sikeston 100 100 2 -- 4 4 3
Kennett 001 400 x -- 5 7 3
WP -- Tyson Campbell. LP -- Doug Still. Multiple hitters: (S) Blake Wolferding 2-3. (K) D.K. Wallace 2-4, Campbell 2-4. 2B -- (S) Wolferding.
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