IT'S REVENGE TIME FOR JACKSON

After getting thumped by Cape Girardeau Central 12-2 and 14-0 during the regular season, Jackson High's baseball team should have been happy to just make it through seven innings with the Tigers during Wednesday's Class 4A, District 1 Tournament semifinal at Central's Tiger Field.

Jackson, the fourth seed out of five teams, did make it through all seven innings -- and as an added bonus knocked off the top-seeded Tigers 3-2 to advance into the district championship game.

Josh Adams, the loser in the Indians' 12-2 loss at Central early in the season, got his revenge with a stunning two-hitter to improve his record to 3-5. Jackson (14-10) will play third-seed Farmington at 4 p.m. today at Central for the district title.

The Knights (13-8) beat second-seeded Sikeston 4-3 during Wednesday's other semifinal at Capaha Field.

Central (13-13) didn't commit an error in the field for only the second time this season, but the Indians touched Central ace Craig Ringwald (3-5) for seven hits to record the win. Ringwald struck out 11 and walked only one as he went all seven innings.

"We didn't boot the ball around the field, we had good pitching and only gave up three runs," said Central coach Steve Williams. "Normally when you do that you have a great chance to win.

"It's a tough way to end the year but that's what the playoffs are all about. You have to perform in a one game shot. Jackson did it and we didn't."

Adams struck out five in pitching around four Indian errors and three walks for the win. Jackson's shaky defense was key in the previous two losses to Central, but the Indians had a different attitude coming into the district game.

"After we had the errors nobody got down," said Adams. "We just stayed up. We knew we could win if we stayed up and played the game."

Jackson coach Sam Sides, in his first year as the Indians' head coach, was impressed with Adams' poise on the mound in tough situations

"Josh was a bulldog today," said Sides. "He really pitched tough. He's a good senior leader for us and he showed it. This was one of the best games he's pitched."

After seeing errors hurt the Indians' chances in the first two meetings with the Tigers, Sides felt fortunate to keep Central to just two runs.

"Before, the errors were combined with a couple hits and walks," Sides said. "Today we had them separated to where the hits, errors and walks didn't come at the same time."

Leading 3-2, Jackson's final error in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Tigers a shot in their last at-bat. With one out, Derek Hiett (1-for-3) reached on a throwing error by shortstop Travis Stevens.

Instead of needing one more out for the win, Adams was forced to stop a potential rally by the Tigers.

"When (the error) happened I wasn't feeling too good," said Adams. "But after that, (Stevens) came through.

Following the error, Stevens fielded a Shane Gibson grounder to force Hiett at second and Jeff Beasley grounded out to Stevens to end the game.

"I had more control today," said Adams comparing his last start against Central. "I hit the outside and inside corners and when I got down in the count, (Central) would hit a ground ball. I just had my control and that was the key to the game."

Central took an early 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the first inning. Ross Bennett drove home Gibson, who had reached on an error.

"We made a few mistakes but it didn't seem to break us down so much," Sides said. "We just kept playing and had some timely hitting."

After getting mowed down by Ringwald their first time around the batting order, Indian leadoff batter Justin Gladish got Jackson going in the fourth inning with a line drive home run to right field to tie the score 1-1. Later in the inning, an RBI-double by Todd Wessel scoring Mike Gross (2-for-3) put Jackson on top for good 2-1.

Consecutive hits to start the fifth inning -- a double by Christopher Leimer and an RBI-single by Brock Friedrich -- made the score 3-1.

Central got an unearned run back in the sixth when Tatum Kitchen reached on an error and eventually scored on a passed ball to make the final score.