Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Nathan Henfling (8) is tagged out on a force play at home plate by Notre Dame catcher Jacob Valleroy during Thursday's SEMO Conference baseball game at Indian Park. Henfling went 3-for-4 as Kennett won 8-6. [Click to enlarge]

Struggling with errors and with their bats, things looked bleak for the Kennett Indians against Notre Dame on Thursday.

But the Tribe never gave up.

"We kept fighting until the very end," Kennett senior Shane Branum said. "That's what definitely kept us in the ballgame. We never gave up even though we were down after making a few errors. We just kept fighting hard."

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett's Cameron Wallace watches a pitch go by during Thursday's SEMO Conference baseball game against Notre Dame at Indian Park. [Click to enlarge]

That fight paid off, as Kennett rallied to defeat the Bulldogs 8-6 in SEMO Conference action at Indian Park.

"That's a big win for us this year," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "Obviously we know we're going to have to play better than that later in the year, but our kids kept fighting and came through with a big win."

Actually, the Indians (3-1, 1-1 SEMO) rallied from behind twice on Thursday.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cameron Wallace scored when Austin Jackson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then Gage Blue singled home Branum and Nathan Henfling to give Kennett a 5-4 lead.

"Gage is really swinging the bat well lately," said New. "Hopefully he'll continue to do so and give us punch there in the middle of the order."

Notre Dame (1-1, 0-1) responded in the top of the sixth inning, as Ryan Bass singled in Blake Gaddis to tie the game at 5-5, then Wesley Glaus drove in pinch-hitter Mark Glastetter with the go-ahead run.

However, the Tribe had one more comeback left. Branum's two-out base hit to rightfield scored Wallace to tie the score again, then Jackson doubled to center to chase home Henfling and Branum with the eventual winning runs.

"He came through with a big hit there at the end," New said of Jackson. "He struggled a little bit early in the game but came through with a big hit when we needed it."

Kennett took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Wallace came home on Branum's grounder, and went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second when Blue scored on Trey Bazzell's sacrifice fly.

The Bulldogs retook the lead in the top of the third inning when Jacob Valleroy singled in Jake Pewitt to tie the game, then Dylan Drury came in when Valleroy's hit was misplayed.

Notre Dame extended the lead to 4-2 when Gaddis scored on an error in the top of the fourth inning.

Bazzell got the win in relief of Branum, pitching three innings and allowing two runs and four hits while walking one and striking out one.

Henfling was 3-for-4 on the day to pace the Tribe at the plate, while Branum and Blue each had two hits. Blue and Branum also had a pair of RBIs while Jackson drove in a game-high three runs.

"He's definitely stepped up and been a big bat for us," Branum said of Jackson. "We're going to have to continue to rely on him to step and produce for us as the season goes on."

Kennett heads to Jackson on Monday before coming home to host Dexter, Caruthersville and Portageville on back-to-back-to-back days beginning Tuesday.

Campbell 10, Risco 0
At Campbell, the Camels won for the third time this week as they dominated Tri-County Conference foe Risco.

Jake Tinnon limited Risco to just two hits in five innings, recording 11 of 15 outs on strikeouts and walking three.

Kyle Matthews was 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Cote Harralston drove in three runs and added a double.

Delta C7 13, Southland 3
At Cardwell, the Chargers won for the third time this week with an easy win over the Rebels.

Delta (3-1) takes on Risco on Tuesday at Deering.

Golf
Kennett 177, Sikeston 178
At Sikeston, the Tribe improved to 6-0 on the spring with a key win over district foe Sikeston.

Undefeated Kennett will host Malden on Monday.