Capahas beat Perryville for the fourth time

~ Plaza Tire improved to 12-2 with a 10-0 victory

Jason Blum has been bothered by a lingering hamstring problem for about a month.

Blum's hamstring is just about well if Saturday's jaunt around the bases is any indication,

Blum's Plaza Tire Capahas' debut was puncuated by an inside-the-park home run during a 10-0 rout of the visiting Perryville Longhorns.

The game, scheduled for nine innings, was stopped after 6 1/2 innings by the 10-run mercy rule. The teams were supposed to play two seven-inning contests, but the doubleheader was scrapped because Perryville was short on players.

The Capahas’ Cole Bieser, left, congratulates Jason Blum on his inside-the-park home run against Perryville during the third inning.

"It was a good game for us," said Capahas assistant coach Tom Bolen, directing the squad after his father and longtime manager Jess Bolen had a medical procedure that forced him to watch a second consecutive contest from the Capaha Field press box. "Everybody pitched well and everybody played well."

Blum is coming off a solid redshirt freshman season at Southeast Missouri State that saw him voted to the Ohio Valley Conference all-freshmen team.

But the outfielder injured his hamstring late in the campaign, which limited him to a pinch-hitting role during the OVC tournament and also altered his summer plans.

"I was supposed to go to Indiana to play [in a summer collegiate league]," Blum said. "But when this [the hamstring injury] happened, I decided to stay here and let it heal."

The speedy Blum finally felt good enough to join the Capahas (12-2) for Saturday's contest after he missed their first 13 games.

Blum tested out the hamstring during the third inning, when his fly ball got over center fielder Drew Armbruster's head.

Blum circled the bases and probably was safe at the plate only because catcher Tom Hutchison could not make connections with a low throw.

"It's just starting to feel better. I finally got it healed. At least I think it's healed," Blum said. "I was still kind of taking it easy [on the home run]. I didn't want to push it and have another setback. Luckily [Hutchison] dropped the ball."

Blum went 2 for 4, including an RBI single in the sixth inning for the Capahas' 10th and final run.

"He's a very good addition to our team," Tom Bolen said.

Blum is happy to be a part of the Capahas, who also feature a few of his Southeast teammates.

"It's nice to have some guys I know, and the rest also seem to be real good guys," Blum said.

Cole Bieser, who also plays for Southeast, went 3 for 3 and scored four runs.

Jordan Kimball had two hits, including a triple. He also drove in three runs and scored twice.

Adam Blum, who Jason Blum believes is a distant cousin of his, added two hits and scored twice.

While the Capahas had plenty of offense with nine hits, three pitchers threatened to fire off a perfect game.

Starter Logan Holthaus, who received credit for the victory and improved to 3-0, retired all nine batters he faced with four strikeouts.

Dustin Hunter set down all six batters he faced, with three coming on strikeouts.

Colton Young set Perryville down in order in the sixth inning to make it 18 up and 18 down for the visitors.

"I knew we had a perfect game going," Tom Bolen said.

The Longhorns finally ended that when Alex Beussink drew a one-out walk in the seventh inning.

Perryville ended the no-hit bid when Spencer Day followed with a single. Paul Ferguson got a two-out single to load the bases before Young's third strikeout ended things early on the 10-run rule.

"Given the circumstances, only playing one game instead of two and not having a game [today], we wanted to make sure several pitchers got some work in," Tom Bolen said.

The Capahas now have won all four meetings with Perryville this year by a combined score of 38-6. The teams are scheduled to play three more games against each other.

Perryville 000 000 0 -- 0 2 3

Capahas 104 302 x -- 10 9 0

WP -- Logan Holthaus. LP -- Dusty Thomason. HR -- Jason Blum (C). 3B -- Jordan Kimball (C). Multiple hits -- Capahas: Cole Bieser 3-3, Blum 2-4, Kimball 2-4, Adam Blum 2-3. Records -- Capahas 12-2.