Capahas avoid no-hitter, first loss of season against Printers

The Plaza Tire Capahas continued their perfect start Sunday night by pulling away late for an 11-4 victory over the city rival Riverdogs to end a tripleheader of baseball at Capaha Field.

But it was the second of three games that more severely threatened Plaza Tire's undefeated record.

Facing former Capahas pitcher and Cape Girardeau native Billy Roll, Plaza Tire was nearly no-hit but managed to slip past the St. Louis Printers 1-0.

The Riverdogs prevailed in Sunday's opener, outlasting the Printers 8-7 in nine innings. All three contests were scheduled for seven innings.

"It was a good day of baseball," said Capahas manager Jess Bolen, whose squad improved to 7-0.

Roll had an especially strong day even though he was saddled with two losses.

The hard-throwing right-hander, who went by the last name of Huston when he attended Notre Dame High School in the mid-90s -- although he never really pitched until college -- allowed just two hits and two runs in 8 1/3 innings spanning two appearances. He struck out 10, walked three and hit four batters.

"It was a tough way to get two losses," Roll said, smiling.

But Roll, 26, couldn't complain too much since it was his first real work since completing his eligibility at Lindenwood University in 2003.

"I'm tired, but it felt good after not pitching in about a year and a half," said Roll, who lives in the St. Louis area.

The Capahas got only one hit off Roll -- a bloop single by Robbie Moore in the bottom of the fifth inning -- and scored the game's lone run in the sixth without the benefit of a hit. Eric Horstman led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on Lance Seasor's sacrifice fly and came home on Josh Eftink's ground out.

"He cleaned our clock," Bolen said of Roll, who pitched for the Capahas in 2000 and might rejoin them later this summer. "He's got a good arm."

Jamie McAlister and Matt Stroup combined on a three-hit shutout for the Capahas. Stroup was the winner, working the last three innings and allowing no hits.

Against the Riverdogs (3-4), the Capahas snapped a 4-4 tie with two runs in the fifth, then broke things wide open with a five-run sixth.

"They played us really tough for five innings," Bolen said.

The Capahas had 14 hits, led by Seasor and Levi Olson with three each. Horstman tripled and doubled, Wade Walter doubled twice, Moore had two hits and Eftink belted a long home run.

Josh Joiner got the win with three perfect innings as he struck out seven of the nine batters he faced. Starter Kyle Perry gave up five hits and four runs in four innings.

"Joiner looked great," Bolen said.

Tyler Schlosser had two of the Riverdogs' five hits and Tyler Cookson homered. David Mathis took the loss despite a solid, five-inning performance.

In Sunday's opener, the Riverdogs blew a late 7-2 lead as a key error led to four unearned runs and cost Tim Davis a win, but they finally got to Roll during his third inning of relief in the ninth.

Roll, who fanned six in 2 1/3 innings, allowed a single to Tyler Schlosser with one out in the ninth, then hit Andrew DePeder and walked Ryne Wood to load the bases. Shane Gibson fouled off several tough pitches before walking to force in the winning run.

Tyler Nelson got the victory with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after Davis allowed just one earned run in six innings.

"Tim is going to be a really good pitcher for us and Tyler looked good," Riverdogs co-manager Robin Minner said. "It was a big win for us after losing the lead."

Bryan Austin had two of the Riverdogs' nine hits.