Capahas rally to stay alive

~ Plaza Tire used late heroics to eliminate Nevada, Mo., 4-3.

WICHITA -- Cape Girardeau's Jess Bolen has witnessed many a come-from-behind victories during his 41-year tenure as head coach of the Plaza Tire Capahas at the National Baseball Congress World Series.

Bolen said he didn't remember the years precisely, but the Capahas rallied for 5-1 and 7-1 victories at the NBC World Series, along with coming back from a 10-0 deficit to beat Miami (Fla.). There was also the 12-3 deficit Cape rallied from to beat Nogales, Ariz., a few years ago.

"We won all of those games," Bolen recalled. "Those were bigger comebacks, but that was when they used aluminum bats."

The Capahas were at it again Tuesday morning in a losers bracket game of the NBC World Series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Capahas' right fielder Jerry Hodges delivered a two-out, two-run single to center field off Griffons reliever Nathan Fritz, capping a three-run uprising in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory in an matchup of Missouri teams.

The win guaranteed Plaza Tire at least a ninth-place finish and paired them in an elimination game against Beatrice, Neb., at 8 a.m. today.

The hit was the second of the game for Hodges, who also had a two-run single in Monday's victory over Moreno Valley (Calif.). He was the only Capahas player with more than one hit as Plaza Tire had eight overall.

"Jerry is kind of a unique story," said the 65-year-old Bolen, the dean of NBC coaches with more than 1,300 victories. "He hasn't played for us all year because he played for another team. He played for us one game last year [at the World Series] and tragedy hit.

"His mom passed away and we had to fly him home from Wichita. His grandmother also died this year. He's a kid that it seemed like he was losing a loved one every six month. He played at Missouri Baptist, an NAIA school last year, and I think he led the nation in hitting for batting average in the NAIA. We picked him up for one reason; he's a really good hitter."

The Griffons (35-25) scored all their runs in the top of the sixth.

Nevada pitcher Connor Lambert silenced the Capahas (31-7) with a three-hitter through six innings before trouble started brewing in the seventh. Lambert, a Washington State University pitcher, hit Jordan Payne to start the inning and then gave up a double to Asif Shah to put runners on second and third. Graham followed with a sacrifice fly to right to drive in Payne with Cape's first run.

In the ninth, Payne led off with a double to center offNevada left-hander Charlie Shaver, then went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Shah's sacrifice fly, slashing the Griffons' lead to 3-2.

It also chased Shaver, and Nevada head coach John Hill III turned to Fritz. Daryl Graham greeted Fritz with a single and Levi Olson followed with a base hit up the middle to put runners on first and second. Pritchett then hit a double-play grounder to third, with Nevada third baseman Anthony Ottrando temporarily bobbling the ball. He was unable to get the force at second and instead threw to first for the second out.

With runners at second and third, the stage was set for Hodges' game-winner.

The winning pitcher was reliever Josh Parham, who pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings in relief of starter Jamie McAlister. Parham struck out one and walked one. McAlister allowed five hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.

Tommy Fitzgerald had two of Nevada's five hits.

"We did have the game," Hill said. "We just gave it away. We didn't make pitches. We left the ball, up and to give them credit, they hit it.The bullpen just didn't get the job done."

CAPAHAS 4, NEVADA 3

Nevada 000 003 000 -- 3 5 0

Capahas 000 000 103 -- 4 8 3

WP -- Jamie McAlister. LP -- Nathan Fritz. 2B -- Jordan Payne (C), Asif Shah (C), Chad Mercado (C). Multiple hits -- Nevada, Tommy Fitzgerald 2-3; Capahas, Jerry Hodges 2-4. Records -- Nevada 35-25, Capahas 31-7.