Jackson Senior Legion continues district dominance with fourth consecutive title

Gavon Turner took the mound against a familiar foe in Saturday afternoon's District 14 Senior Legion baseball championship.

Turner started for Jackson Post 158 against Josh Morse and Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 in an identical pairing from the teams' July 1 matchup.

"I mean, of course they're a great hitting team," Turner said. "I just go in and let them him it, and if a strikeout comes, I'll take it. But I let them hit, and I trust my defense."

Just like in the game earlier this month, Post 63 outhit Jackson. And just like in the game earlier this month, it was Turner and Post 158 that walked off with a win anyway.

This time it was an 11-3 victory at VFW Stadium in Sikeston to give Jackson its fourth consecutive district title.

Turner pitched all nine innings for the win. He allowed 12 hits and walked two batters but stranded 11 runners on base during his 123-pitch, two-stikeout performance.

"I've been pitching, obviously, for a while," Turner said of pitching with runners aboard. "It's just something that you get used to over the course of time. It just comes natural after a while. It's just the grit."

Being handed a big lead helps.

After Cape stranded its first runner of the day in the top of the first, Jackson scored five times in the bottom of the inning thanks to two errors, two walks and just two hits.

Jackson Legion Post 158 starting pitcher Gavon Turner delivers a pitch against Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 in the District 14 Senior American Legion tournament Saturday, July 18, 2015, in Sikeston. (Trent Singer)

"It's tremendous," Turner said. "Whenever you have a lead to pitch off of, it's a whole different ballgame. ... You just stay more relaxed. You stay more in your zone. You don't try to do too much. You just do enough."

Morse bent over and put both hands on his knees when a pop-up was dropped for an error to start the bottom of the first and didn't help himself by walking the next Jackson batter.

"I knew we'd probably have to be perfect defensively, and we weren't," said Morse, Post 63's captain. "We didn't play bad defensively, but it definitely could have been better. On the mound, I left a lot of pitches up, gave a lot of guys good pitches to hit, and they took advantage of it. That's what good teams do."

No. 3 batter Ryan Harvey, who described himself a first-pitch hitter, hit Morse's first-pitch fastball for a two-RBI double to give Post 158 a lead it never gave up. Jackson added runs on a groundout, sac fly and rundown.

"He's not a very fastball dominating pitcher," Harvey said of Morse. "I'd say he's more of a junkball pitcher. He's got a good curveball. He's got a good changeup. His location just wasn't good today. Before when we saw him, his location was right on point."

Morse allowed just one hit over the next three innings, and Cape cut into the lead with his RBI single in the third and Isaac Pender's RBI double in the fifth that made it 5-2. Morse followed with a single to put runners at first and third for clean-up hitter Chase Hagerty.

"The guy's hitting almost .400," Post 63 coach Justin Lieser said. "There's very few guys on the team that you would want more than him in that spot. That's for sure."

Hagerty fouled out to end the threat and what proved to be his team's best chance to pull closer after Jackson chased Morse with four more runs in the bottom of the inning.

"After we scored there in the fifth to make it a ballgame 5-2, they came back with four, and that just really took the air out," Lieser said.

Jackson Legion Post 158 starting pitcher Gavon Turner walks off the field after pitching a complete game against Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 in the District 14 Senior American Legion tournament Saturday, July 18, 2015, in Sikeston. Jackson coach Mark Lewis is pictured left. (Trent Singer)

Cape (18-16) added its final run in the sixth on Ryan Tegel's RBI single while Jackson added a single run in the seventh and eighth innings before dogpiling in celebration following Turner's final pitch in the ninth.

Jackson, which improved to 26-15 and advanced to next week's zone tournament in Farmington, recorded 11 hits and played flawless defense.

"Any time you go into the playoffs and you can play well -- as a coach, no matter what your record is, playing well at the end of the year is what you look for because you're going to start facing good teams," Post 158 coach Mark Lewis said. "Obviously as you continue to go, you've got to be playing well. You can have the greatest team and play terrible, and you're done. You're out real fast."

While Saturday's title was the first Senior Legion championship for Turner and many of his teammates, it was just the continuation of success in Jackson's Legion system.

"It's awesome," he said. "Last year I was on Junior Legion and we went all the way to regionals. Now let's make a repeat. I love all these boys on the team and I think of them as my own family."

Cape Post 63 001 011 000 -- 3 12 2

Jackson Post 158 500 040 11X -- 11 11 0

WP -- Gavon Turner. LP -- Josh Morse. 3B -- Wyatt Eldrige (J). 2B -- Ryan Harvey 2 (J), Landon Mills (J), Trevor Propst (C). Multiple hits -- Cape: Cramer McGarr 2-4, Morse 2-5, Ryan Tegel 3-4; Jackson: Jarrett Newell 2-5, Harvey 2-5, Mills 2-3.