Notre Dame erupts late to take down Sikeston

SIKESTON -- Through four innings, Tuesday afternoon's baseball game between Sikeston and Notre Dame had all the makings of a typical classic contest between the two rivals.

But Notre Dame was not interested in that.

With Sikeston nursing a 1-0 lead, visiting Notre Dame erupted for 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to dispel any notion of a potential thriller, defeating the host Bulldogs 10-1 at VFW Stadium.

The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Bulldogs, who were stifled by Notre Dame ace pitcher Justin Landewee on the mound.

Sikeston was limited to just six hits and one walk by Landewee. He struck out four in going the distance.

"Landewee is not one of the best around for nothing," Sikeston coach Alan Scheeter said. "To beat a good pitcher like that you're going to need more than just one run. You've got to scratch and claw and find some way to get runners on base. We put the ball in play -- he only had four strikeouts -- but that's why they're a good team because they made plays behind him. Notre Dame didn't give us anything today. They came out and executed every phase of the game well."

Other than a solo home run by Tyler Anderson, Sikeston only managed to reach third base twice in the game.

Its best chance to grab an early lead came in the bottom of the first with two outs when Drew Harper doubled to right centerfield just past diving Notre Dame centerfielder Josh Haggerty.

Anderson, who previously drew a walk, hustled all the way from first base but was held at third as the ball was thrown home with Sikeston's leading hitter, Gavin O'Brien, due up next.

However, the Bulldogs were left stranded as O'Brien grounded out to short to end the inning.

It proved to be the Bulldogs' only second and third situation the rest of the day.

Sikeston (12-3, 2-3 SEMO Conference) broke the shutout when Anderson lofted his solo home run over the left field fence to give his team a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

"That was big for us," Scheeter said of Anderson's home run. "We had two outs at the time and he had two strikes on him. Landewee had been throwing a lot of curve balls in a fastball count and he just sat on a curve ball and got the pitch he wanted and he got it up and hit it well."

Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said he takes part of the blame for Anderson's homer.

"The home run's probably my fault," Graviett said. "I got on (Landewee) in the first inning for not coming right after Tyler in his first at-bat because I feel like Sikeston's lineup is good enough that we can't give them any free bases. You've got to make them earn everything. The second time he went after Tyler and he paid for it."

The score remained 1-0 through four innings as Sikeston hurler Jarett Sandlin was throwing a beauty. He had already accumulated seven strikeouts and had yet to allow a hit. Only two runners had reached base on errors.

But Notre Dame's bats came alive in the top of the fifth as Cody DeBrock got things started with a one-out double off the right centerfield fence.

No. 9 hitter Griffin Siebert singled in DeBrock with a base hit to left field to tie the game at 1-1. Siebert advanced to second on the throw home, which proved to be critical as he scored on Chase Urhahn's single to centerfield to take the lead, 2-1.

Urhahn, who also advanced to second on the throw home, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on another wild pitch to take a 3-1 lead.

Notre Dame put the game away in the top of the sixth with seven more runs, starting with an error to lead off the inning.

Sandlin then struck out the next two batters, which theoretically should have ended the inning, but one of the batters reached base when the swinging strike was in the dirt.

Notre Dame took advantage of the mistakes with a two-run double by Luke Haines and an RBI-double by DeBrock to extend the lead to 7-1 to chase Sandlin from the hill.

"I think what happened is they got through Jarrett two times in the lineup and then that third time around they'd already seen him twice," Scheeter said. "Good hitters, they make adjustments and that's exactly what they did. He got a little tired, even though he won't admit it. But he got a little tired. They hit a couple that were hard that I thought we could've made plays on, but we didn't. And then the wheels just kind of came off once we got around to the sixth inning."

Sandlin went 4 1/3 innings in taking the loss. He struck out nine and walked none, allowing seven runs (three earned) off five hits.

Harper finished out the inning in relief of Sandlin. After walking the first two batters, another error led to two more runs followed by a hit batter and an RBI-single by Chase Simmons to round out the scoring.

Notre Dame was limited to six hits, but Sikeston's five errors proved very costly.

"Sandlin was throwing the ball tremendously well," Graviett said. "It was a 1-0 game and I'm trying to figure out how we're going to scratch one across and maybe a second one to get it. Once we locked in at the plate and caught a few breaks and it just opened up. This is the best our team's done in putting some distance in between teams and putting it up there where it really made it tough for them to come back."

Notre Dame was led in hitting by DeBrock's two doubles.

Sikeston was led by Trey Tigart's two hits.

"I'm not down about the loss today," Scheeter said. "I'm disappointed that we lost, but I don't think we played poorly. We just got beat by a better club today."

Both squads will next compete in the SEMO Conference Tournament tomorrow. Notre Dame is seeded second and will host No. 7 New Madrid County Central at 4 p.m.

Fourth-seeded Sikeston will host No. 5 Kennett tomorrow at 4:30.

N. Dame 000 037 0 -- 10 6 0

Sikeston 001 000 0 -- 1 6 5

WP -- Justin Landewee. LP -- Jarett Sandlin. Multiple hitters: (N) Cody DeBrock 2-4; (S) Trey Tigart 2-3. HR -- (S) Tyler Anderson. 2B -- (N) DeBrock 2, Luke Haines; (S) Drew Harper, Cord Sheehy.

Junior Varsity

Notre Dame 4, Sikeston 1

The Notre Dame Bulldogs made it a clean sweep of Sikeston Tuesday defeating the junior varsity Bulldogs 4-1.

This was Sikeston's first loss of the season, which they now stand at 12-1.

Sikeston was cut short of a rally in the last inning stranding runners on second and third before Notre Dame closed the game.

Luke Williams went 2 for 3 for Sikeston, while Blake Wolferding, Nathan Hampton and Sebastian Matos each added a hit.

Jacob Clark pitched a complete game allowing four runs on four hits and two walks. He also struck out two.

Sikeston scored their lone run in the fifth inning while Notre Dame plated one run in each of the second, third, fifth and sixth innings.