Box Score ELLISVILLE – Through the early stages of the 2016 season, the Jones County Junior College offense has been receiving high marks and deservedly so.
But here Saturday afternoon at Community Bank Park, it was the Bobcat pitching staff that was front and center.
Calder Mikell and Mason Strickland combined on a 3-0 shutout as the Bobcats defeated Mineral Area College (Missouri) in game one of a doubleheader.
Mikell pitched out of jams in each of his four innings.
In the top of the first, Chase Urhahn and Ryan Bouse led off with singles, but Mikell then recorded three straight strikeouts.
In the second inning, Brad Freed and Logan Bax led off with singles. Alex Roy then grounded the ball to first baseman Erick Hoard, who fired to Dalton Skelton at second for one out and Skelton relayed the throw back to Hoard to complete the 3-6-3 double play. Mikell then struck out Kenton Crawford to end the inning.
In the third, Bouse and Conner Forsythe had one-out singles for the Cardinals, but Mikell retired Ben Teter on a ground ball and struck out Grant Dix to end the inning.
In the fourth with one out, Bax singled and Roy was hit by a pitch. Mikell then struck out Crawford, but walked Urhahn to load the bases with two outs.
He then struck out Bouse to end the inning.
The Bobcats broke through with two runs in the fourth inning.
Tanner Huddleston led off with a walk and advanced to second on a throwing error. John Alan Wall's ground ball was booted, allowing Huddleston to score. With two outs, Dalton Skelton tripled to the left-center gap to score Wall and give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead
JCJC added a run in the fifth when Shelton Wallace reached on an infield hit and advanced to second on an error. He then took third on another error and scored on Huddleston's sacrifice fly to right.
Mikell, 2-0, got the win. He scattered seven hits, struck out eight and walked one. Strickland went the final innings to earn the save. He gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out three.
Skelton had the triple, while Wallace, Mason Irby, Wall and Erick Hoard had singles.
Jeremy Rettig went the distance and took the loss for the Cardinals. He allowed three runs (none earned), five hits, walked one and struck out three.
Bax had three singles and Bouse had two singles for the Cardinals. Urhahn, Forsythe and Freed added singles.
 
Saturday's game
Ellisville
Community Bank Park
Game 1
Jones County 3, Mineral Area (Missouri) 0
Mineral Area (2-5)              000 000 0 – 0 8 5
Jones County (7-0)            000 210 x – 3 5 0
Jeremy Rettig and Logan Bax. Calder Mikell, Mason Strickland (5) and Jonathan Parker. WP-Mikell (2-0). LP-Rettig. Sv-Strickland (1). Mineral Area hitters: Logan Bax 3 1B; Ryan Bouse 2 1B; Chase Urhahn 1B; Conner Forsythe 1B; Brad Freed 1B. JCJC hitters: Dalton Skelton 3B; Shelton Wallace 1B; Mason Irby 1B; John Alan Wall 1B; Erick Hoard 1B. LOB: Mineral Area-9; JCJC-6. T-1:47.