Semoball

Saxony Lutheran teammates propel Jackson Senior Legion baseball to 13-5 win over Cape

Jackson Post 158's Hunter Bilek gestures to his teammates after a double during a game against Cape Ford and Sons Post 63 on Tuesday at Jackson Indian stadium.
TYLER GRAEF -- tgraef@semissourian.com

As the summer continues to roll along, it has not slowed down a pair of Saxony Lutheran state qualifiers on the diamond.

Hunter Bilek and Mason Lewis combined for four hits and five runs batted in, as the two helped Jackson Senior Legion Post 158 to a 13-5 victory over Cape Ford and Sons Senior Legion Post 63 in the first game of a doubleheader at Jackson Indian Stadium on Tuesday.

Cape earned a 10-5 win in the second game, which doesn't count in District 14 standings.

TYLER GRAEF -- tgraef@semissourian.com

Jackson's Jacob Farrar (9) high-fives teammate Tyler Martin (50) during a matchup between Jackson and Cape Girardeau American Legion baseball teams Tuesday, June 11, 2019, at Whitey Herzog stadium in Jackson.

The two Crusaders, recently off a Class 3 third-place finish, showed they still were locked in during Game 1.

With Jackson (6-6, 1-0 District 14) leading 2-0 after the second inning, Bilek and Lewis took advantage of the opportunity to do more in the third.

After Jackson High's Landon Hahn and Blaise Winder led off with hits, Lewis brought them both home with an RBI single to left to make it 4-0 with just one out. The home team kept its foot on the gas with two additional runs as Bilek stepped up to the plate.

With two on base and two out, Bilek hit a deep fly ball over the left fielder's head that plated Jackson's Seth Spraggs and Tyler Martin for an early and comfortable 8-0 lead. Jackson scored six runs on six hits in the inning.

After losing twice over the weekend, Jackson Legion coach Mark Lewis, who also serves as an assistant at Saxony Lutheran, wanted to establish an early presence in the game.

"In those games, we blew the lead," Lewis said. "To come back with a win after those games is always nice."

As for Bilek and Mason Lewis, coach Lewis was not surprised to see the two still locked in.

"The one with Mason came after a strikeout and really fueled us," he said. "Once we got that hit, we were able to tack on more. Those two have not had a break."

Along with the Crusader players, Lewis pointed out the efforts of Lance Kluesner.

The right-handed pitcher from Jackson started the game hot.

Through the first four innings, he had five strikeouts and no base-runner advanced past first.

Cape Post 63 (2-5, 0-1 District 14), however, would find a way to bother the former Indians thrower.

With two outs, it got two walks. Zach Moore and Andrew Brown both reached base on errors by Jackson, which resulted in three runs scored. Cape Central's Owen Sheehan then hit a two-run single that brought them to within 8-5 as Brown and Paul Kitchen, who drew a walk and each scored.

Coach Lewis, in spite of the rally, was still encouraging of his pitcher.

"Give Cape credit, they got going and started hitting the ball hard (in the fifth)," he said. "Lance pitched well for us but just needs to get us out of the inning."

Kluesner went 4 2/3 innings, allowed five earned runs, five hits and struck out five. Mason Martini came in for relief and allowed just two hits the rest of the way.

Opposing pitcher Brown went four innings, allowed eight runs, 10 hits, walked one and struck out three.

Blake Saupe relieved him and finished the game, as he allowed five runs, six hits, walked four and struck out one.

Piecing together a quality team in the summer league could possibly be the making of something special for Jackson.

"We try to get the kids out early in the first part of the season," Lewis said. "I try and play a lot of kids and find out what I got. We have injuries and players on vacation, so it's normal for summer ball, but it's good for other kids to get out there and perform."

Jackson got another rally going in the sixth as Sean Cheney's two-run single scored Lewis and Tyler Harris. Bilek's sacrifice-bunt brought home Spraggs for the final score. Bilek finished with three RBIs.

"Kluesner pitched a great game," Cape coach Adam Stevens said. "It was the fifth inning, we were able to get some hits together. Jackson hit the ball hard, Bilek and Lewis did, as well as them as a whole. They're a good ball club."

Jackson pounded out 16 hits in the game. Winder had three hits to lead the way, including a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning. Cape had seven hits.

Jackson plays at Perryville today in a double-header make-up game at 6 p.m.

Cape plays at Perryville on Saturday.

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WP -- Lance Kluesner. LP -- Andrew Brown. 3B -- Hunter Bilek (JL). 2B -- Bilek (JL), Blaise Winder 2 (JL); Peyton Eftink (CL). Multiple hits -- Jackson Legion: Bilek 2-5, Tyler Martin 2-4, Blaise Winder 3-5, Mason Lewis 2-3, Tyler Harris 3-4.

Editor's note: A Jackson Senior Legion pitcher was misidentified in an earlier version of this story. Mason Martini was the relief pitcher who allowed two hits.

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