CGS Baseball wins two-of-three improving to 5-6 overall and 4-2 in conference action
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chester Grade School Jr. Jackets Baseball team had another great week of baseball action last week playing three games and winning two-of the three competitions. The Jackets got off to a bad start Monday, August 31 losing at DuQuoin, 13-3, but rebounded Thursday and Friday afternoons, September 3 and 4 winning at both Murphysboro, 10-6 and at Sparta, 16-8 to improve to 5-6 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Monday at DuQuoin the game was tied 2-2 after three innings, but a hit batter and several walks opened the flood gate and DuQuoin scored 11 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning. The Jr. Jackets never recovered and DuQuoin won, 13-3. Lane Gibbs got the loss for CGS. With the loss CGS fell to 3-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
Thursday afternoon at Murphy was a different story. Down by a score of 5-0 early, the Jackets had to go to work to right the wrong that had plagued them in the first three innings. In the 4th inning the Yellow Jacket bats got hot and CGS was on the way to another victory.
Joel Clendenin hit his second home run of the season for Chester's first run and Alex Yankey had a two-RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3. Kramer battled on the mound to keep Murphy at bay and maintain the 5-3 score.
The Jackets scored three runs in the 5th inning to take a 6-5 lead, and then added four more runs in the top of the 7th to extend their lead to 10-5. In the bottom of the 7th Murphysboro added one more run to trail, 10-6, but still got the loss as Chester improved to 4-6 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
Kramer Eggemeyer earned the win for the Jr. Jackets after pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up five runs. Ryan Ochoa came in relief for Eggemeyer and picked up the save getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the 6th inning. Lane Gibbs had a huge two-run double and Drake Middendorf added a two-run single to help lead CGS to the victory.
Friday the Jr. Jackets traveled to Sparta where they pulled off a nice 16-8 win to improve to 5-6 overall and 4-2 in the conference race.
CGS came out slow and Sparta took an early 4-0 lead. Just like the night before, it took a while for the Jackets to rally, but they finally did and when they did, they did it right! By the 6th inning Chester had taken a 15-6 lead and never looked back.
Chester won the game 16-8. Alex Yankey got the win for the Jr. Jackets after pitching five strong innings. Andrew Frazer had a pair of triples which really catapulted the Jackets early on and Joel Clendenin added another triple to further motivate the Jackets. Lane Gibbs, J.J. Hanger and Ryan Ochoa each had hits to add to the offense. Chester ended the week strong and significantly improved their overall record and standing in the league.
The Jr. Jackets play three games the week of September 7-11 with an away game Tuesday, September 8 at conference rival Trico, a home contest Thursday, September 10 at the Cohen Complex vs. Pinckneyville and an away non-conference game Friday at Steeleville. All games are at 4 PM.