By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Missed opportunities were the downfall of the Dexter Bearcats on Tuesday afternoon, when they hosted district rival Notre Dame. The Bearcats stranded 13 base runners in the 4-2 loss.

"We had opportunities all day long, we just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it. [There were] four times where we had the bases loaded with a full count and two outs. The wheels were turning, we just couldn't get the base hit that we needed to plate some runs," head coach Brian Becker said. "Hopefully, if we get ahold of these guys again, we'll put the bat on the ball and start scoring some runs. It's scary to think how many runs we could have put on the board today against a very good team."

"You've gotta give some credit to Notre Dame; they made the pitches when they counted," he continued. "A 3-2 count and they threw a strike when they needed to, and we didn't get it done at the plate when we needed to."

As in Saturday's 3-2 loss to Ste. Genevive, fielding errors proved costly for the Bearcats early in the game. A botched double play ball in the third inning allowed the Bulldogs to increase their early lead.

"We had a double play ball, and if we could have turned that, then we get out of the inning without any runs scoring," Becker noted. "With the error, they end up tacking on two runs after they already took a 2-1 lead. It seemed like we never could get over the hump today."

Jordan Miller took the start for the Bearcats, but intermittent struggles with pitch location - all six of Notre Dame's hits came off the junior righty - would cut his day short after four innings of work.

Miller redeemed himself at the plate with a 3-4 performance including one RBI. Miller, who leads the team with a .538 batting average and is tied with Chase Young with 11 RBI's, was the only Bearcat with multiple hits on the day.

"He's been swinging the bat well for us all year, and today was no different," Becker said. "It just seemed like he was never at the plate when we were in those bases loaded situations."

Alex Cliff took to the mound in relief of Miller in the top of the fifth; the senior pitched three shutout innings - improving his season ERA to 1.40 - while fanning three batters.

"Cliff did a great job on the mound for us today, and he's done well all season long," Becker noted. "He came in, threw strikes, mixed his pitches up well, and did a real good job for us."

The Bearcats fall to 5-3 (1-3) on the season with the loss, and will be back in action on Thursday afternoon, when they hit the road to take on the Scott City Rams in yet another Class 3, District 1 contest.

Brad Potts (1-0, 3.15 ERA) is expected to get the start for the Bearcats in the 4:00 p.m. contest.

Click here for the full stats sheet.

Photos Above:
Top: Chase Young (left) applies a tag on Notre Dame's Jon Lynch during Tuesday's contest.
Bottom: Jordan Miller drives an RBI single into right field during the first inning on Tuesday afternoon. Miller had another great day at the plate, going 3-4 with one RBI.

The Dexter Bearcats picked up a win on their home course Monday afternoon, tallying a team score of 173. The Kelly Hawks finished second with 196 strokes, barely edging Kennett's 197 stroke total. Cody Stevens and Bryce McPhearson both scored a 39 on Hidden Trails Country Club's front nine; Brandon Strickler finished with a four-over 40, and Ryan Joyner tallied a 47 stroke score. Above, Myles Urhahn tees off on the first hole on his way to a 47 shot outing.

Kurt Lovelady, winner of the inaugural SMT Hoops Challenge,  claimed his prize on Monday afternoon - an Apple iPad 3!  Lovelady correctly picked 178 games in the 12 week contest, and plans to use the iPad to help keep stats for the DMS Baseball team, which he manages.  
Congratulations, Kurt!

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Fresh off a disappointing 3-2 extra inning loss on Saturday, the Bearcats returned to their home field on Monday afternoon to face off against the Campbell Camels. The 'Cats had hot bats throughout the game, and coupled with another quality start by Logan Northern, cruised to a 16-1 run-rule victory.

"I thought we swung the bats a little better today. We talked before the game about going up and working on the things we needed to work on at the plate," head coach Brian Becker said after the game. "Just the little things it takes to be a good hitter. For the most part today, I thought they did a good job of that." Catcher D.J. Dowdy, who has had recent struggles at the plate, started the rout with a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the first inning. The sophomore also showed off his impressive arm, throwing out Matt Campbell as he tried to steal second in the top of the first.

"D.J. has been hitting the ball hard, but he's been hitting it right at people. He's been kind of snake-bit lately, but today he came out and got a gapper for us to get us going," Becker noted. "He also did a great job behind home plate; he threw a laser to Chase [Young] at short to throw a kid out. He said today his arm was feeling good, and hopefully his arm feels good tomorrow when we play Notre Dame."

The rally carried over into the second inning, where Brad Potts drilled in a pair of RBI's with a line drive to right field during the five run inning. The 'Cats plated a whopping eight runs in the bottom of the fourth; Young drove in three of the eight on a double to deep left, followed by an RBI double from Jordan Miller to give Dexter a 16-1 advantage heading into the top of the fifth.

After surrendering a walk to the leadoff hitter, Northern was able to force two flyouts and a ground-out to first baseman Alex Cliff to end the game and notch another win for the Bearcats.

The Bearcat pitching staff notched its third complete game in a row, and Northern's second of the season - the junior righty tossed a seven inning gem against Doniphan earlier in the season. Becker feels his staff is doing well with the long outings.

"I think they're responding well. I may have left Owen [Flowers] in there for one too many batters on Saturday, but he was throwing a heck of a game," he said. "Every time our pitchers go out, they expect to throw a complete game. If they get in trouble, we'll get them out."

Northern didn't have quite as much control over his pitches compared to previous starts, but was able to strike out one while surrendering two walks and five hits. The starter boasts a 2-0 record and 0.0 ERA so far on the season.

"Logan didn't have his best stuff today," Becker said. "He was begging me to let him stay in there and get a complete game today, so I let him get in there and finish it up."

The Bearcats will be back in action Tuesday (April 3) afternoon, when they take on perennial District powerhouse Notre Dame. The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but due to forecasted rain and a mutual day off, school officials elected to bump the game up rather than risk having to reschedule.

"They're one of the top programs in this area. They're going to be tough like they always are; they always swing the bat well, they always have a good pitcher on the mound," Becker said of the Bulldogs. "It'll be tough, and we're going to have to bring our best game with us on the field tomorrow. Hopefully we can get some hits to fall in for us and get a good pitching performance from Jordan [Miller]. We have Scott City on Thursday, so we have Jordan plus everybody but Owen [Flowers] and Logan [Northern] to [pitch] in relief tomorrow. We'll go after 'em and see what we can do, and hopefully we'll come out of there with a win."

First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

Click here for the full stats sheet.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

Football Class and District assignments for the 2012-2013 classification cycle were released Saturday by the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA).

Schools with less than 200 students are allowed to play in the 8-man division; in traditional, 11-man football, the 32 biggest schools (based on student enrollment in grades 9-12) will be classified as Class 6, while the smallest 64 schools are in Class 1. Classes 2, 3, and 4 are incrementally filled with the next 64 largest schools, while Class 5 fills the gap with everyone left that is too big for Class 4 and too small for Class 6.

Head coach Aaron Pixley and the Dexter Bearcats will remain in Class 3 for the new cycle - Class 3 is filled with schools enrolling between 426 and 701 students - while Centralia, Christian, Hogan Prep Academy Charter, Hollister, Lift for Life Academy Charter, Macon, Sumner, and Southwest Early College Campus will all join Class 3.

The 'Cats will also remain in the same District, but the teams have been changed from last season due to MSHSAA's new playoff format in the 2012 season.

The new format creates a nine game regular season, with the 10th week opening the District Championships. The third game of the championship 'series' will be the District Championship game, with a champion and runner-up advancing to the playoffs from each District.

Teams will now be in eight-team Districts - up from four in the previous format - and will be seeded by a point system over the nine game regular season. This point system allots 20 points for a win, 10 for a loss, and 15 for an overtime loss; additionally, a team can earn a 10 point 'bonus' for each game played against a larger school (i.e. a Class 3 school earns 20 extra points for playing a Class 5 school); the point totals will be added up and divided by the total number of games played to determine seeding within the District. The third game of the championship 'series' will be the District Championship game, with a champion and runner-up advancing to the playoffs from each District.

New Madrid County Central, Fredericktown, and Kennett will be rejoining the Bearcats in Class 3, District 1; the four teams will welcome Park Hills Central, Lift for Life Academy Charter, Potosi, and Ste. Genevive in the 2012 season.

The 2012 and 2013 seasons conclude with the annual MSHSAA Show-Me Bowl at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. State Championship games for 2012 will be played November 23-24, while the event will be held November 29-30 in the 2013 season.

Click here for the full details on realignment for all six classes.

Click here for more details on the new playoff format for 2012.