BOYS OF SUMMER READY TO TAKE FIELD

Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons and Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy will both look to build on last year's success while Jackson figures to field a team for the entire season after folding up about halfway through the 2000 campaign.

That sums up the situations for the three area squads as the 2001 American Legion baseball season approaches.

Cape, Chaffee and Jackson all compete in District 14, a league that has been dominated in recent years by Dunklin County, which has won four straight district championships and last summer also captured the state title along with finishing second in the regional.

Rounding out the eight-team district are Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Charleston and Stoddard County.

Cape visits Dunklin County for a 6 p.m. doubleheader today to open the season while Jackson and Chaffee get under way Saturday, Jackson hosting Stoddard County at 6 p.m. and Chaffee visiting Poplar Bluff at 2 p.m..

Here is a look at the three area teams:

Cape Girardeau

Ford & Sons, 28-20 a year ago, has a new manager in Tom Reinagel. He's excited about the season.

"It's really been a smooth transition and we're ready to go," he said. "I think we can have a decent ballclub, I really do. I don't think we'll be super, but I'm hoping I'll be fooled. It depends on how hard they want to work."

Returning squad members are Cape Central High School products Dusty Barrows, Rob Carr, T.J. Erlacker, Zac Fidler, Jay Pierce, John Snider, Justin Welker and Richard Harrison, the latter playing two years ago but missing all of last summer with an injury.

Cape Central will provide three of the team's newcomers in Jason Chavez, Travis Wissman and Mark Wittenborn.

Other new additions to the squad are Shane Kistner and Tim Wencewicz from Notre Dame; Tyler Schlosser and Barry Ziegler from Kelly; and Woodland's Luke Johnson.

Chavez, Welker, Pierce, Johnson, Wittenborn and Wencewicz figure to be among the squad's top hurlers.

"We've got a lot of throwers," Reinagel said. "How effective our pitchers are will be a big key to our season."

Reinagel considers Chaffee to be the solid district favorite, with Dunklin County and Sikeston also strong. He's hoping his team can be in the thick of things.

"Chaffee is the team to beat. They're loaded," said Reinagel. "I think we should be in the hunt, at least in the top half, and I'm hoping we can contend."

Jackson

Jackson had a trying 2000 season, going through three different managers and suffering from a lack of players before finally packing things in.

Gerald Adams has moved up from the Junior Legion team to take over as the head man of the Senior Legion squad and he's hoping to add some stability to the program.

"I think things are looking up," said Adams. "We've got a good group out and I think we'll be pretty solid.

"Chaffee will be loaded and Dunklin County and Cape will both be good. You never can predict the amount of wins, but I think we'll be able to compete with everybody."

At press time, Jackson's squad featured 11 players from Jackson High School, along with three from Woodland and two from Oak Ridge.

The Jackson products are Bryan Austin, Joey Beard, Brad Berry, Michael Birk, Jason Brown, Matt Gordon, Patrick Kohm, Lance Limbaugh, Josh Parham, Ricky Renfroe and Dusty Roberts.

Joey Grippo, Jared Houchins and Kyle Long are from Woodland while Beau Morrison and Clayton Ruesler are from Oak Ridge.

Adams said there was a chance that Jackson's Mario Whitney, one of the area's top all-around athletes, would also play this summer if he can juggle baseball around his work schedule.

Adams likes the look of his pitching staff that will feature four left-handers in Brown, Limbaugh, Parham and Long, along with Austin, Roberts and Morrison.

Chaffee

Chaffee came ever so close to winning its first District 14 Tournament title last summer, forcing the if-necessary final game against Dunklin County before falling short and finishing with a stellar 39-7 record.

This year, armed with loads of talent and top-flight pitching, Chaffee appears to be the odds-on district favorite and also a solid contender for the state crown.

"I'm not going to lie to you. We're going to be good," said manager Jeff Graviett. "I think this definitely should be our best shot at the district. I thought last year we had a good chance and we almost made it, but Dunklin County had a great team.

"I felt like we were one of the top four, five teams in the state last year. We took the state champions to a final game."

Of Chaffee's 15 players, 11 are returning performers, including many of the area's top high school stars from this spring.

Returnees are Notre Dame's John O'Rourke, Lance Dohogne, Andrew DePeder, Scott Eftink and Todd Friend; Chaffee's Matt Stroup, Perry Rice and Travis Hanback; Oran's Adam Friga and Garrett Cook; and Kelly's Justin Simpher.

New to the squad this year are Chaffee's G.P. Glueck, Scott City's Jeremy Glastetter and Kelly's Jon Heuring and Chase Deason.

Stroup, Simpher, Glueck, Eftink and Friga were all among the area's elite hurlers this high school season, giving Chaffee what looks like a deep pitching staff.

"We should have five strong starters," Graviett said.

While Graviett doesn't argue with the many people who have pegged his squad as the team to beat this summer, he knows things won't be easy.

"Dunklin County maybe won't be as dominant as they've been, but they'll still be solid," he said. "Sikeston and Cape should be pretty good, and Poplar Bluff with (premier hurler) Jamie McAlister will be dangerous. We'll have a lot of competition."