Jackson Head Coach Tatum Kitchen stated going into the 2022 season, “If you want to be a big dog, you have to play the big dogs”.
Well, this weekend the Indians will take the 4 1/2 hour journey to the otherside of the state to do just that.
Jackson will have its hands full all weekend with potenially its toughest test to kick off the tournament. The Indians will take on Willard today, the top ranked team in Class 5, with first pitch coming at 5pm. The Willard Baseball program has been on a hot streak over the last few years, with a 2019 third place finish and 2021 State Championship with a pair of 2021 All State player returning this season.
Kicking things off at 10am on Saturday, the Indians will match up with the Republic Tigers. Republic brought home a 2021 District Championship, while setting a school record for wins in a season. However, the Tigers are in rebuilding mode losing all but one starter from last years team. Still, they currently sit at 2-1 on the season, with two big wins over Hillcrest and Rolla. They then followed that up by getting crushed by Rockbridge.
Finshing out the weekend, our Indians will face current 7th ranked Kickapoo at 3pm. The Chiefs are coming off a 24-9 2021 campaign that saw them fall just short in District play. This squad will feature a batch of fresh faces fighting to replace the five starters that moved on to play college ball, but should have plenty of depth in its lineup. The Poo (as they are known in Springfield) is coming off two straight wins to start season ,but there’s good chance they won’t stay undefeated after Saturday.
This will be a fun and exciting weekend to watch the Indians turn two and hit gappers against some of the better teams in the state. The boys from Jackson are hungry, and their favorite food is on the menu with Willard and Republic. This tribe from Jackson doesn’t fear any Poo either, so let’s get locked in for a great weekend of Americas favorite pastime.
If you can’t make it to the game, we’ll be bringing you the livestream with #MarchiMadness for all the games on the our Jackson LiveStream Page!
