Dexter defeats Charleston, extends win streak to three

Jerry Jarrell photo Dexter third baseman Caleb Miller throws to first after charging a slow ground ball during the Bearcats' 6-4 win over Charleston at home Tuesday.

Dexter hitters banged out 10 hits and the Bearcats made it three straight wins with a 6-4 decision over the Charleston Bluejays Tuesday at the East City Park ball field in Dexter.

Mason Noe, Caleb Miller, Matt Banken and Tyler Scott each collected two hits as the Bearcats improved to 6-1 on the year.

Banken started on the mound for the Bearcats, and along with relievers Garrett McKuin and Scott, combined to limit the Bluejays to just three hits. But the trio also issued 14 walks to the visitors to keep them in the game.

Charleston scored twice in the second inning to take the lead, but Dexter responded with two runs in the third on a RBI single by Noe and a sacrifice by Eric Windham.

Dexter took the lead in the fourth when David Hessling scored after a lead-off single, stolen base and infield error moved him to third. McKuin's sacrifice ground out plated Hessling with the go-ahead run and a 3-2 Dexter lead.

Charleston used three walks and a hit batsman to tie the game in the fifth, but Banken delivered an RBI double to score Noe, who was hit by a pitch and stole second to get into scoring position.

Dexter added two insurance runs in the home half of the sixth when catcher Ben Mills plated Scott and Noe delivered a single to score Mills.

"Those two runs we got there in the sixth inning were obviously huge to give us a little insurance and I was very, very happy to see David (Hessling) catch that ball there at the end for the last out, because anything could have happened."

Charleston made in interesting in the seventh, thanks in large part to generous Dexter pitching to score yet another run without a hit. The bases were loaded with two outs when Scott got Eric Rowling to fly out to center, where Hessling made a good running play on the ball as dark clouds had moved in to steal the light and make it hard to pick up the ball.

Scott worked the final 2 2/3 innings to earn the win.

Jamie Barber, who went the distance for Charleston, was saddled with the loss, even though he didn't allow a walk through his six innings of work.

Banken, a senior, got his first start of the season against the Bluejays. The left hander has battled arm and shoulder problems the past few years, but appears to finally be healthy and would be a welcomed addition to the pitching rotation throwing as a southpaw.

"I had him (Banken) on a pitch limit," Becker said. "It's the first time I've really gotten to use him. He's had arm troubles throughout his high school career, and it was just good to see him out there on the mound throwing some pitches in a Bearcats uniform.

"For the most part, Matt did all right," Becker continued. "He struggled once his pitch count got up to 30 or 35, he started to struggle a little bit. He walked in a couple of runs, but, you know, he's just a good ball player and it was good to see him out there in a Bearcat uniform."

Charleston slipped to 4-2 on the year with the loss.

Dexter was scheduled to be back in action again today at 4 p. m. at Perryville weather permitting.