BARROWS' DRAMATIC HR POWERS TIGERS PAST JACKSON 5-4

Dusty Barrows picked a perfect spot to continue his early season home-run barrage.

Barrows, Cape Girardeau Central High's senior catcher, belted a one-out, solo homer that just cleared the left-field fence in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Tigers knocked off visiting Jackson 5-4 Tuesday afternoon.

Explained Barrows of his third homer in just four games this year, "It was a 1-2 count. The first two (strikes), I tried to kill it and swung and missed. Then I just wanted to put the bat on the ball. I think he (Jackson pitcher Lance Limbaugh) wanted to go outside, but he threw it down the middle."

Of the power he has shown so far this season, Barrows smiled and said, "It's patience, and working in the weight room. I've gotten a lot stronger."

Barrows extra-inning blast, which came after Jackson had rallied from an early 4-0 deficit, improved the Tigers to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in SEMO Conference play. Jackson fell to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

"Dusty came through for us," said Central coach Steve Williams. "He's shown a lot of power so far."

Neither team displayed much defense as all eight runs prior to Barrows' homer were unearned. Central had three errors while Jackson committed four.

"I was disappointed in our defense again," said Williams, whose squad made six errors during their first loss of the year, Monday at CBC. "We booted the ball on plays we should have made."

Said Jackson coach Sam Sides, "We battled back, but we're not playing good enough to win. We're making too many mistakes."

Both hurlers were impressive. Central right-hander Jason Chavez, a transfer student whose father is an assistant football coach at Southeast Missouri State University, improved to 2-0. He allowed six hits while striking out nine and walking two in going the distance.

"I thought Jason did a good job again," Williams said.

Limbaugh, a left-hander, allowed five hits over the first two innings but then did not give up another until the Barrows homer. Limbaugh fanned three and did not issue a walk.

"Lance really battled," said Sides. "He'll be around the plate, he changes speeds and he's the best competitor I have on the mound."

Central grabbed a 2-0 first-inning lead, getting RBI hits from Zac Fidler and Travis Wissman along with a Jackson error.

It became 4-0 in the second as a Jackson error allowed Mitch Craft and Rob Carr, who had both singled, to score.

The Tigers carried that 4-0 lead into the fifth inning, when the Indians exploded to tie the contest, taking advantage of four hits and two errors. Limbaugh had the big blow, a two-run single, while Jason Brown's RBI single made it 4-4.

That's the way things stood until Barrows ended the contest in the eighth.

Jackson's Ricky Renfroe was the only player on either team to get two hits.

Central will be right back in action today, hosting Sikeston in another SEMO Conference matchup.