Tribe does enough to get past Tigers

DEXTER, Mo. -- The Kennett Indians had their struggles against Caruthersville in the first round of the Class 3, District 1 Tournament, but did enough to do what matters in district play: survive and advance.

The Tribe did not get a hit after the second inning but scored three times in the first two innings and limited the Tigers to three hits on the day to take a 4-2 victory Monday here at East Park.

"The guys battled," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "That's what we've been talking about -- just find a way to win this time of year. They were able to find a way to win today and that's a good thing this time of year."

Kennett (12-9) did just that, scraping out runs when the offense batted just .227 on the day.

The Indians got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when Logan Dollins singled to left, then came home on Thomas Stillman's double that was misplayed for a 1-0 lead.

Caruthersville (1-12) answered right back in the top of the second inning, as Corey Cagle reached on an error, went to third on a Graham Gardner double and crossed the plate on Nick Wamble's groundball to first base.

However, the Tribe took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Trey Bazzell and Cameron Wallace both got one-out singles, then a pair of wild pitches allowed both to score and make it a 3-1 game.

The Tigers cut it to 3-2 when Peter Loyd scored on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth, but came no closer as the Kennett bullpen turned in 3 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief.

"The pitching staff did another good job," said New. "We faced a good pitcher -- we just didn't swing the bats as well as we'd have liked."

The Tribe got a key insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Austin Jackson came home on a sacrifice fly by Andy Lack, making it 4-2 and giving reliever Cameron Wallace some breathing room in the seventh inning.

Bazzell, Dollins, Stillman, Wallace and Gage Blue each had one of Kennett's five hits Monday.

The Tribe will face Dexter in the district semifinals this evening at 6 p.m.

It will be the fourth straight year the two teams have met in district play.

"We were able to hang in there and win that first-round game," New said. "Maybe that sets us up to play well (Tuesday. It's our) third game against Dexter. Hopefully we'll come out and play them a good game."

Notes: Kennett has won two of its last three district meetings against Dexter, winning 7-1 in 2006 and 6-4 in 2007 before Dexter took an 8-1 victory last season. ... Dexter has defeated Kennett twice this spring, winning 10-0 at Dexter and 10-7 last week at Kennett. ... Mason Noe is expected to start on the mound for Dexter this evening.