Scott County's victory over Cape comes under protest

JACKSON — Trenton Moses was a little surprised Wednesday when he arrived at the ballpark and found out he was Scott County Post 369's starting pitcher.

"The last time I pitched was against these guys [Cape Girardeau Post 63] last year in districts," Moses said. "I threw about 15 pitches in the bullpen the other day, and that's the most I've thrown since."

Moses, who was Southeast Missouri State's third baseman this past spring while a freshman, tossed four solid innings. He also went 5-for-6 at the plate to help Scott County rout Cape Girardeau 19-4 in the elimination bracket of the American Legion District 14 baseball tournament after both teams lost their first-round games Tuesday.

Cape Girardeau (8-22) played the game under protest because it believed three Scott County players — Moses, Shae Simmons and Kody Campbell — were ineligible to play in the contest because they didn't register properly with the league while also playing on other summer baseball teams.

Scott County coach Denver Stuckey did not play Moses, Simmons and Campbell in the first-round loss to Jackson because he thought the game would be protested since all three players are members of a select team and did not have a dual participation sheet filed at the beginning of the year with Legion ball.

But Stuckey penciled all three players into his lineup facing elimination Wednesday.

"We just decided like we feel we didn't do anything wrong," Stuckey said. "We'll play our guys. I'm sure they [Cape Girardeau] will protest it like the others team would protest it. That's out of our control. The way the rule is understood is that we can play it, they can protest it. We can appeal the protest, and whoever is in charge can decide."

Moses gave up one run, which was unearned, on five hits. He was relieved by Levi Felter, who tossed the final five innings.

"When I got to the ballpark today coach [Lance] Amick told me I was pitching," Moses said. "So I was like — 'Oh, all right. Is this some kind of joke?"

Moses said it was a strange feeling to get back out onto the mound.

"I just tried to throw strikes and let them hit it because I've got a good defense behind me," Moses said. "I was rusty, but I threw strikes for the most part, except for the last inning I was in. I pretty much kept the ball on the outside half of the plate."

Moses said it was nice to return to the lineup after watching his team lose 19-6 to Jackson on Tuesday.

"We were wanting to play yesterday," Moses added. "It was just a bad break. We didn't get to go out there and we wanted to. We talked about it, all three of us together. We wanted to just go out there today and play hard."

Scott County (17-15) came out swinging the bat early against Ford & Sons hurler Zach Wilson.

Simmons reached on an error with one out in the first. Moses then singled to center. Blake Dirnberger followed with a single to left that scored Simmons.

After a flyout, Campbell, Felter and Chris Asmus each had RBI hits to increase the Scott County lead to 5-0.

"It [scoring early] was really important to us," Scott City catcher Cody Carlyle said. "Us and Cape have sort have been rivals. Coach Stuckey really wants to beat them every time we play them, so it's really important to us just to get up on top and to keep scoring."

Moses doubled to right-center field to score Simmons in the second inning. Campbell singled in Moses to increase the lead to 7-0.

"That [not playing Tuesday] was a little disheartening." Campbell said. "And then to watch us lose and to know we couldn't do anything about it, that was also pretty hard. ... [The coaches] just called us last night and told us we were all going to play so we just came and played, hit the ball well, fielded the ball well, pitched well and we played pretty good defense, so if we continue to do that I like our chances."

Simmons, Moses and Campbell combined to reach base 16 of the 21 times they came to the plate. They combined to score nine runs.

"They're really important," Carlyle said of the three. "Everyone is important on the team, but they help us out a lot."

Cape Girardeau coach Dave Meyr did not want to comment on the game because it was under protest. The protest will be decided today.

Scott County 520 120 207 — 19 25 2

Cape 001 003 000 — 4 12 8

WP — Trenton Moses. LP — Zach Wilson, 0-0. HR — Kody Campbell (SC), Levi Felter. 3B — Brooks Osburn (C). 2B — Moses (SC), Felter (SC). Multiple hits — Scott County — Aaron Tomaszewski 2-8, Moses 5-6, Dirnberger 2-6. Cody Carlyle 3-6, Campbell 4-5, Felter 3-7, Chris Asmus 2-7, Josh Henson 2-6. Cape Girardeau — 3-5, Zach Plott 3-4, Sean Prince 2-4, Records — Scott County 17-15, Cape Girardeau 8-22.

Jackson Post 158's Mike Mouser was hit by the throw from home as he stole second base during the first inning of Wednesday's winner's bracket game against Dunklin County Post 303. Due to a late start, the game was not complete when the Southeast Missourian went to press Wednesday night. Results will appear in Friday's edition.

Cape Girardeau Post 63's Blake Smith waited on a throw from third as Scott County Post 369's Trenton Moses dove back to second during Wednesday's elimination game in the American Legion District 14 tournament. (AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com) [Order this photo]

Cape Girardeau Post 63 outfielder Brooks Osburn pulled in a long fly ball during Wednesday's game.

Cape shortstop Brandon Smith pulls in a high bouncing grounder as Scott County's (#42) runs to third on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com) [Order this photo]