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SHS drops first SEMO game
SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs lost their first SEMO Conference game of the year as they fell to Dexter 7-3 on Monday afternoon at VFW Stadium.
The Bulldogs fell behind early and never could overtake the Bearcats.
Dexter pounded out 10 hits and, more importantly, collected hits when runners were in scoring position.
The Bulldogs swung the bats well, but couldn't come up with timely hits, stranding 10 runners in the game.
"The biggest thing is we just didn't get hits when we had guys on," said Sikeston coach Kevin Self. "We had a lot of hard hit balls right at people and we had some balls that didn't quite go our way."
Dexter got it going in the top of the first when Cole Smith reached on a "swinging bunt" with one out. Logan Swindle and Josh Stevens followed up with singles, the latter bringing in Smith. Kyle Cox hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Swindle, giving the Bearcats the 2-0 lead.
Dexter (6-1, 3-0 SEMO Conference) tacked on a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Swindle to bring in Drew Pixley. The made it 4-0 in the top of the sixth on Pixley's RBI-single to plate Kyle Espy.
Sikeston, which botched two bases loaded opportunities in the third and fifth innings, finally broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Stan Ivie and Cody Anderson each had run-scoring singles to bring in Seth Baker and Jerod Scott, cutting the lead to 4-2. The Bulldogs still had two runners on with one out, but Dexter hurler Stevens got Scott Droddy swinging on a 3-2 curve ball and got Austin Williams to ground out to the pitcher to end the threat.
"We had opportunities to get back in it," Self said. "We had runners on first and third with one out and we had the right guy up there (Droddy), but (Stevens) threw a really good 3-2 breaking ball and it just tied him up."
Dexter added some insurance runs in the top of the seventh, plating three on just one hit to take a 7-2 lead. The Bulldog relievers walked four batters and an error hurt the cause.
Sikeston scored a run in the bottom of the seventh with the help of two Dexter errors, but couldn't mount much of a rally.
Sikeston (8-2, 3-1 SEMO) starter Joey Williams threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs off nine hits. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter in taking the loss.
"(Dexter was) swinging the bats in the first inning and they kept swinging," Self said. "They got some good swings on everything we threw up there. Joey had a little trouble early -- he was up -- and they told him about it."
Dustin Barker threw 1/3 of an inning of relief, but had trouble finding the strike zone as he walked two, had a throwing error to first and gave up a two-run single to Derrik Chamberlain in the seventh.
Garrett Limbaugh closed out the game, walking two and striking out two.
"We've got a tough, long week," Self said. "Joey had to go a long way because we've used up most of our guys in the tournament this weekend. Four games in two days will do that to you."
Sikeston had runners in scoring position in all but two innings, but came up empty several times.
The Bulldogs had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the third with cleanup batter Nick Lambert up, but his hard line drive went right to the second baseman.
Lambert had a chance to make amends with another bases loaded situation in the bottom of the fifth with two outs, but Stevens got him swinging at a fastball to end the threat.
We got in trouble with our defense but Josh (Stevens) did an excellent job of working out of trouble," Dexter coach Brian Becker said. "We had a couple of two-out errors that extended his pitch count a little bit and those errors made him throw more pitches. And by the end of the game Sikeston was able to start timing him up a little better. But during those bases loaded situations, Josh did a good job of digging down deep and getting the job done."
Droddy went 2-4 and Anderson was 2-3 with an RBI for the Bulldogs.
Dexter was led by Smith's 3-5 day at the plate with a run scored. Pixley went 2-4 with a run and two RBIs.
Stevens was the winning pitcher, throwing all seven innings and allowing eight hits. He struck out four and walked two.
Sikeston will host Kennett tomorrow at 4 p.m. Dexter will travel to Charleston today at 4 p.m.
Sikeston's J.V. team improved to 4-2 on the season with a 3-2 victory against Dexter.
Sikeston's Charlie Bohannon was the winning pitcher, throwing four innings and allowing two runs off four hits and five walks with one strikeout.
Logan Kirkpatrick threw one inning, allowing one hit with one walk and a strikeout.
Blair Bohannon had a hit and an RBI. Josh Carlyle had the only other Bulldog hit.
Dexter 7, Sikeston 3
| Dexter | 201 | 001 | 3 | -- | 7 | 10 | 4 |
| Sikeston | 000 | 002 | 1 | -- | 3 | 8 | 4 |
WP - Josh Stevens. LP - Joey Williams. Doubles - Sikeston: Josh Jackson. Dexter: Cole Smith. Multiple hitters - Sikeston: Scott Droddy, Cody Anderson. Dexter: Drew Pixley, Smith. Records - Sikeston 8-2. Dexter 6-1.