Sox get rocked in first game of doubleheader against SEMO Pirates

Wednesday, June 22, 2016
SEMO Pirates' Brock Beacham rounds third and celebrates his three-run home run with coach Tyler Trover (right) in the first inning against the Sikeston Silver Sox Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at VFW Memorial Stadium in Sikeston. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat)

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Silver Sox have seen better nights. The visiting SEMO Pirates scored five runs in a flash signaling the beginning of the end for Sikeston's Senior Legion baseball team, who couldn't muster a fight or the will.

The Sox eventually fell 15-1 in five innings during the first game of a doubleheader sweep by the Pirates Wednesday at VFW Stadium in Sikeston. The lack of fight sparked a visibly upset coach Ryan Moses between games.

"First off, [the Pirates] are a good ball club. You can't take that away from them," Moses said. "Second, we got down early and gave up. Flat out gave up. No fight. No effort. No intensity after we got down 5-0. Nothing. That's not acceptable."

SEMO Pirates' Tyler McLevain delivers a pitch to a Sikeston Silver Sox batter Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at VFW Memorial Stadium in Sikeston. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat)

Brock Beacham landed the first haymaker that buckled Sikeston's knees. He snuck a three-run home run over the 299-feet painted wall that gently curved around the right field foul pole. A two-RBI single by Dee Triplett beforehand gave the Pirates its 5-0 advantage.

The Pirates had 17 hits and scored runs in each of the five innings played.

"We got off to a good start," Pirate coach Tyler Trover said. "We're coming off a week where we didn't swing it very good so it's nice to get off to that good start. Pretty good result."

The Pirates (15-4) killed Sikeston's jubilee from less than 24 hours before when Sikeston put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Jackson's Senior Legion during the second portion of a suspended game 6-5 in walk-off fashion.

Falling behind by five runs after the first inning dissolved those happy feelings quickly.

"This was right after we took a game from Jackson by scoring four runs in one inning," Moses said. "Now five runs is an impossible feat, I guess. Just ugly. Ugly ball game."

Nick Allred, making his first start in nearly two weeks for the Silver Sox, was ineffective. He gave up eight runs on eight hits, one walk and one hit batter through two innings.

Sikeston Silver Sox first baseman Tyler Evans reaches for a ball while pitcher Nick Allred (17) runs toward first base against the SEMO Pirates Wednesday, June 22, 2016, at VFW Memorial Stadium in Sikeston. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat)

"He's rusty," Moses said. "He had a little vacation time and that's okay. At the same time, he got hit. He threw strikes and got hit. That's baseball. There's no pitcher in the world that doesn't get hit hard. That's just part of it."

Pirates pitcher Tyler McLevain, however, was solid through three innings. The Cooter graduate who spend his freshman season pitching for Three Rivers College gave up two singles and didn't allow a baserunner to reach second.

"Tyler, we have a lot of stock in him heading to the end of the season," said Trover, who was recently named the new head baseball coach at Portageville High School. "We wanted to get him a few innings here to get ready for the weekend."

Austin Bucher threw the last two innings giving up one run in the seventh.

"[Austin] hasn't thrown a lot this year and really didn't have him in mind as a pitcher when the season started. We've put him out there a few times and he's looked good. If he keeps throwing like that we'll keep putting him out there."

After Allred's departure, PJ Kennard pitched the final three innings for the Silver Sox giving up seven runs (six earned) on nine hits.

Holding an already 11-run lead, enough to end the game after five innings according to the mercy rule, the Pirates posted four more runs in the top of the fifth making it 15-0. A sacrifice fly from Nathan Hampton scored Logan Hampton for Sikeston's lone run in the bottom half.

"It's summer baseball and the bottom line is we don't try to get too serious about it but if you're going to come out and play you need to do things right and play the game the right way," Moses said. "If we get beat, that's part of it. But to roll over a die like that, that's never okay. I'm not okay with that."

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