SHS bedevils Chaffee

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Scott Droddy rounds third base on his way toward home plate.

CHAFFEE - The Sikeston Bulldogs baseball team tuned up for the upcoming SEMO Conference Tournament with a 16-1 road win in five innings over the Chaffee Red Devils on Monday afternoon.

The Bulldogs pounded out a total of 16 hits, including 10 in the 11-run second inning. Eight of Sikeston's nine starters had at least one hit on the day.

"We faced some good pitching over the weekend at Farmington and DeSmet (both losses)," said Sikeston head coach Kevin Self. "Give the kids some credit, they didn't hang their heads after a couple of tough losses and came in here today and swung the bats about as well as they could. Offensively, this is the best we have played since the Cape Central game."

While Sikeston's bats were hot, starter Jerod Scott kept Chaffee's offense in check with an array of fast balls and a devastating curve ball. Scott only allowed one run and held the Red Devils to two hits, struck out eight and didn't walk a batter.

"Their pitcher kept us off balance all game long," said Chaffee head coach Brian Horrell. "He has a good curve ball that we could not hit."

Sikeston's Jerod Scott delivers a pitch.

Scott Droddy led the game off for Sikeston with a solid single. Droddy scored on a single by Josh Jackson. Nick Lambert drove in Jackson after he reached second base on a wild pitch, with a single. The Bulldogs led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the first.

Chaffee rallied in their half of the inning started off by Chris Hanback double that got over the Bulldogs centerfielder's head. Hanback scored with one out on a Josh Steger sacrifice fly to deep left field. Chaffee trailed 2-1 heading to the second inning.

Sikeston exploded in the second, as 10 of the first 11 batters in the inning reached base. Eight hitters reached base via a hit and two reached on errors by the Red Devils. Tyler Dame and Austin Williams had two-run singles, while Lambert drove in two with a double.

Jackson had two 2-run doubles in the inning and also scored two runs. Droddy and Seth Baker also drove in runs in the second inning. After two innings of play, Sikeston led 13-1.

"Chaffee has a good team and they've got some talent over there," said Self. "The big second inning kind of got them down. It will happen when a team scores 11 runs in one inning."

Self put it on cruise control after the second inning, substituting liberally with his lineup. For the game, every Sikeston player batted at least once. "This is a good team win for us," said Self. "There is not a lot of times in baseball where you can play every player on your roster. It is a good thing that everybody got to play and contribute to the win."

Chaffee only got 1 1/3 innings out of their starter and after a tough last week filled with games, the Red Devils are trying to get their staff squared away for the tournament.

"We are pretty depleted pitching-wise," said Horrell. "Even though the game was out of hand early, I was proud that our guys at least threw strikes. Give credit to Sikeston, they hit the ball well and that is why they are the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Their hitters found the holes early and then we started to boot the ball around which we can't do against a team like Sikeston."

Jackson led the attack for the Bulldogs going 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored. Droddy, Scott, Lambert and Freddie Gilliland had two hits apiece for Sikeston.

Hanback and Michael Lee had the only two hits for the Red Devils, both were doubles. Adam Uhrhan picked up the loss for Chaffee.

Heading into a rivalry game with Notre Dame today and the conference tournament this weekend, Self believes his team needs to start to come together.

"This is the point in the season when we need to put things together," said Self. "We need to start now. We have the conference tournament and in two weeks of that, the district tournament. This win is a good way to get started. Jerod pitched a nice game, we hit well and our defense was solid. We just have to keep going from here."

Sikeston (12-4) travels to Notre Dame today at 4 p.m., while Chaffee (10-6) travels to Oak Ridge and also plays at 4 p.m.

Sikeston 16, Chaffee 1

Sikeston 2(11)0 03 - 16 16 1

Chaffee 100 00 - 1 2 4

WP - Jerod Scott LP - Adam Uhrhan. 2B - Sikeston: Scott, Seth Baker, Josh Jackson (2), Tyler Dame, Nick Lambert. Chaffee: Chris Hanback, Michael Lee. Multiple hitters - Sikeston: Jackson 3-3, Freddie Gilliland 2-2, Lambert 2-3, Scott 2-3, Droddy 2-5. Records - Sikeston 12-4, Chaffee 10-6.

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