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Slow start dooms Sikeston Silver Sox against Cape Post 63
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons Post 63 pitcher Chase Hagerty was able to locate his fastball from the start of Wednesday evening's district matchup against the Sikeston Post 114 Silver Sox. Post 114 starter Jordan Griggs left his fastball up and over the plate often early on.
The result was an early lead for Post 63 and an eventual 7-1 victory at Capaha Field.
"That's the name of the game," Post 63 coach Justin Lieser said. "You have to command your fastball as a pitcher for anything else to work."
Griggs' early issues were complicated by the fact he has just two pitches in his arsenal, a fastball and a curveball.
"He relies heavily on his fastball," Post 114 coach Jacob May said. "When that's not working, he really struggles spotting up. He was leaving a lot of balls up in the zone, and Cape was just putting a good swing on it."
Cramer McGarr and Brock Baugher reached on back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the first for Post 63 before Josh Morse drove both home with a single.
"He threw me a fastball first pitch, and I took it just trying to get a good look at it," Morse said. "He came back with another fastball, and I was ready for it. I put it right back up the middle."
It was a familiar sight for Lieser, who serves as an assistant at Central, where Morse starred during the high school season.
"A guy like him, you know he's going to deliver in a spot like that," Lieser said. "He's our captain, and there's a reason why. He does all the little things right. Our guys feed off him. They feed off his personality, so when you've got Chase on the mound and you've got Josh doing what he does at the plate, we're pretty tough to beat."
Post 63 added two more runs in the inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Ryan Tegel to lead 4-0 after the first inning. That lead grew to 6-0 in the second inning without a hit thanks to two errors, a hit by pitch, another wild pitch that allowed a run to score and a sac fly by Morse.
"I think there in the first two or three innings we were just a little dead and down," May said. "He didn't have his command, but there in the fourth inning, he seemed to find his control. And that's why I ended up sticking with him the whole game. Defensively we struggled a little bit and didn't play well behind him."
Post 63 out-hit Post 114 just 5-4, but three errors, three free passes and another play that could have been made but wasn't proved costly for the Silver Sox.
The early cushion was more than enough for Hagerty, who has signed to pitch for Southeast Missouri State next year.
"It was good," Hagerty said of his outing. "Last start I wasn't feeling too well. My arm was tight, and today I came out and my arm felt great. It was nice and loose. I had some trouble finding the strike zone. I had a lot of trouble with the grip, but I had good velocity and good movement."
Hagerty worked quickly throughout most of his six-inning outing and said about 95 percent of his pitches were fastballs.
"When I was warming up in the bullpen, the fastball felt really good today," he said. "Warming up out there, I could hit it left, right, up, down -- where I really wanted to, so if I was throwing it well, might as well not shy away from it."
Lieser said catcher John Young, Hagerty's high school teammate at Central, deserved credit for the performance as well.
"A lot of it goes to our catcher's credit -- John Young calling a good game, keeping him on tempo," Lieser said. "There wasn't too many shake-offs. Whatever he put down, he was going with for the most part, so they had a good rhythm between themselves. I think that helps any pitcher and our defense."
The Silver Sox scored their lone run on Nathan Hampton's RBI single in the top of the fourth to make it 6-1, but Morse's second RBI sac fly in the bottom of the inning made it 7-1.
Morse, the No. 3 batter for Post 63, finished with four RBIs in part because McGarr and Baugher reached base a combined five times. Baugher was 2 for 3 with a double, triple and hit by pitch.
"It's big for us because getting wins against them in the regular season sets up to get a good seed for the district tournament at the end of the year," Morse said. "Getting a win over a district opponent is always big."
Sikeston 000 100 0 -- 1 4 4
Cape 420 100 x -- 7 5 1
WP -- Chase Hagerty. LP -- Jordan Griggs. 3B -- Brock Baugher (C). 2B -- Baugher (C).