Jackson Babe Ruth advances to title round

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- The Jackson Senior Babe Ruth offense continued its hot hitting in the third round of the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth State Championships, defeating the three-time defending state champion Charleston Fighting Squirrels 12-4 on Saturday.

The two teams entered the contest splitting four early season matchups, scoring the same number of runs against each other.

It didn't take the Jackson offense long to take the lead in the fifth meeting between the two clubs by scoring five runs in the first two frames.

Alex Beussink got things started for Jackson with a two-out RBI single off Squirrels pitcher Andrew Dooley. Beussink added a two-run single in the fourth and another RBI single in the seventh to increase his RBI total to 11 through three tournament games.

"I've had hitters get that many RBIs in three games before, but I don't know in a tournament setting I've had a hitter get that many RBIs in three games," Jackson coach Paul Sander said.

Jackson starting pitcher Brandon Bennett allowed six hits and four runs in the complete-game victory.

"Bennett is a bulldog," Sander said. "We talked and talked about who we were going to throw out there today, and we thought let's throw the kid with the biggest bulldog attitude out there and keep the rest of the defense intact. It worked out well for us."

Bennett, who played high school baseball at Risco, found himself in trouble several times during the game, including in the second inning when the Squirrels' Cody Rice stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.

Bennett, who already had surrendered two runs in the frame, said he resorted to changing speeds and spotting his pitches to pick up the inning-ending strikeout of Rice.

"I wasn't really trying to overpower him," Bennett said. "I'm not really an overpowering pitcher. I was just finding location and changing speeds."

Squirrels coach Michael Minner said his team was impatient at the plate, swinging at the first pitch too many times. Charleston stranded nine base runners.

"We got ourselves out a lot today," he said. "I told the guys we picked a bad time to lay an egg. We didn't look very good offensively, defensively and we weren't very good on the mound. Now we bounce back."

Jackson's Ross Carter found himself on base four times during the game. Carter finished with two single, a double, walk and an RBI.

"I was just waiting on the fastball," Carter said. "I was looking for something to drive over the middle waist high."

Clay Roth and Beussink also had multiple for Jackson, while Jeff Long and Dustin Brister picked up multiple hits for the Squirrels. Dooley took the loss for the Squirrels, allowing eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Jackson will play for the championship at 2 p.m. today at Hillhouse Park in Charleston. Because Jackson enters the contest undefeated, its opponent must defeat Jackson twice. A Jackson loss today would force a winner-take-all championship game immediately after the first game.

Despite needing only one win to advance to next weekend's regional tournament in Wellington, Kan., Sander is cautious. His team was in the same position last year in the Midwest Regional tournament finals before losing consecutive games to Minnesota.

"We cannot take it that we have won what we needed to win," Sander said. "We haven't won anything yet."