Cape Girardeau Senior Legion pulls away late to beat Jackson

The Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 American Legion baseball team has not been known as a home-run hitting squad for most of the season.

That might be changing if the past few games are an indication.

Cape drilled three homers -- all over the final two innings when Post 63 scored all its runs -- during an 8-3 victory over host Jackson Post 158 on Tuesday in the District 14 opener of a doubleheader.

That pushed Cape's winning streak to nine in a row and ended Jackson's six-game victory string.

Post 63 also took the non-district nightcap 6-5 for its 10th consecutive triumph.

Jackson batter Ian Householder ducks under a pitch in front of Cape Girardeau catcher Ryan Siebert during the sixth inning Tuesday. (Laura Simon)

Cape is 18-5 overall and 3-1 in district play thanks in part to sweeping the two district games from Jackson this year.

Jackson is 17-6 overall and 1-2 in the district.

"We're really coming together," Cape's Jimmy Obermark said.

While Post 63 has been playing well for a while, the home-run binge started Monday when Cape hit two out of the park during a doubleheader sweep at Sikeston.

"I think we had something like four or five home runs before Monday," Obermark said. "That's pretty awesome. Everybody's really hitting the ball well.

Jackson's Clayton Baker rounds third base on his way to home plate for an inside-the-park home run during the fourth inning Tuesday.

"We're starting a little late with the home runs, but it's timely, I guess."

It certainly was timely Tuesday at Herzog Stadium. Cape was limited to three hits through five innings and trailed 2-0.

Obermark's two-run homer to left-center field in the sixth inning tied the contest. Logan Morris, the next batter, followed with a shot to nearly the identical spot to put Cape ahead 3-2.

After Jackson forged a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth, Post 63 broke open things with a five-run seventh highlighted by Andrew Williams' three-run homer, also to left-center.

"We're just seeing a lot of pitches and starting to click a little bit," Cape coach Todd Pennington said. "These guys are fouling off good pitches and then getting pitches to hit. That's the mark of a good team."

Cape Girardeau's Josh Hiett trots home during the seventh inning of Tuesday's first game in Jackson.

While Obermark acknowledged there was a strong wind blowing out to left field -- just like the previous day at Sikeston -- the home runs certainly weren't cheap.

Herzog Stadium lists dimensions of 325 feet down the lines and 402 feet to dead center. There are no distances posted for the alleys, but Jackson coach Mark Lewis said those fences are approximately 370 feet from home plate.

"The wind was blowing out again, but mine felt pretty good," said Obermark, who also homered at Sikeston and leads Cape with three this season. "And I knew Logan's and Andrew's were out when they hit them."

Lewis credited Cape's late barrage that decided a contest in which neither side committed an error.

"I thought it was a good game," Lewis said. "Cape came through late with some big knocks. That was the difference."

Also making a difference was Cape starter Ronnie Scott, who appeared to be wearing down but managed to pitch all seven innings.

"I was getting a little tired toward the end," Scott said. "Those [five seventh-inning] runs definitely helped out.

"My curveball was working. My fastball was working when I kept it down low."

Scott allowed seven hits while striking out six and walking two. Five of the seven hits off the left-hander came during the fourth through six innings. Jackson scored one run in each of those frames.

"He got a little tired at the end, but he did a great job the whole game," Pennington said. "He threw strikes and competed."

Jackson starter Brett Thomas was dominant through three shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out six and walking two.

Chris Kirkpatrick struck out four over two shutout frames before allowing the three sixth-inning runs.

Mason Sander suffered all the seventh-inning damage and took the loss.

Lewis, with an eye on saving as much pitching as possible for the big College World Series tournament in Omaha, Neb., that begins Thursday, didn't want to use any hurler too long.

"I'm just trying to get our team in line," Lewis said. "We played and pitched to win the game."

Williams had three of Cape's 11 hits. Obermark and Josh Hiett both added two hits. Obermark matched Williams with three RBIs.

Jackson's highlight was a fourth-inning inside-the-park homer by Clayton Baker that gave Post 158 a 1-0 lead.

Baker's shot to deep center field was just missed by a lunging Austin Davis, who scrambled to his feet and got the ball back in as fast as he could. It briefly bounced away from the cutoff man and Baker never stopped running, easily circling the bases.

Joel Koenig's fifth-inning RBI single put Jackson ahead 2-0 before Cape caught fire.

Koenig and Dylan Koehler both had two hits for Jackson. Koehler's sixth-inning RBI single made it 3-3.

"It was a good win for us," said Pennington, who was missing several of his top hitters for various reasons.

Cape hit no homers in the nightcap but got another strong pitching performance from a left-hander.

Jamie Pickel matched Scott by going the distance. Pickel allowed seven hits, struck out two and walked four. Jackson got all its runs over the first two innings.

Pickel also had two of Cape's nine hits, including a double.

Thomas homered for Jackson, a three-run first-inning shot.