Capahas suffer first loss of season

Plaza Tire Capahas manager Jess Bolen laughed when recounting some pre-game chatter following Saturday's home contest against the St. Louis Golden Spikes.

"Some of the guys were talking about going undefeated," said Bolen, in his 45th season running the Capahas. "I said we'd be lucky to get through the weekend undefeated."

Bolen was right about that last part. The Capahas suffered their first loss, 6-2, and the second game of Saturday's scheduled doubleheader was rained out.

"I didn't expect to go undefeated," said Bolen, whose squad fell to 7-1. "Baseball is not the kind of sport where you go undefeated.

"Other than high school, do you ever remember a team that was undefeated?"

St. Louis Golden Spikes infielder Kirk Heischmidt tags out Capahas baserunner Trent Wise during the second inning of Saturday's game at Capaha Field. (Kristin Eberts)

Kenton Parmley, who finished his junior season at Southeast Missouri State this year, admitted that he and some teammates thought about a perfect regular season.

"At least we got it [a loss] out of the way early, I guess," Parmley said. "We would have liked to go undefeated. But it's pretty hard to do, considering Jess hasn't done it in 45 years."

And it's not like the Capahas fell to a mediocre squad.

The Spikes, consisting primarily of veteran players who have been out of college several years, already are 25-4. They went 53-19 last season.

Although this appears to be among Bolen's better clubs in recent years, avoiding the occasional defeat is even tougher considering the Capahas always swing wood bats while most of their opponents use aluminum.

Capahas batter Kody Campbell doubles during the fifth inning Saturday.

The Capahas had been doing plenty of damage with wood, piling up 85 runs in their first seven games. They finally were silenced Saturday by Ryan Dailey.

Dailey, far from overpowering, allowed seven hits and one earned run while going the seven-inning distance. The Capahas play seven-inning games during doubleheaders.

"He was hitting his spots, keeping us off balance with his curveball," Parmley said.

Dailey struck out one, walked two and hit a batter.

"He was a slow-baller," Bolen said. "Guys like that are tough to hit."

Capahas pitcher Cody Hafeli delivers during the third inning Saturday.

The Spikes nearly doubled the Capahas' hit total with 13. Dailey went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Kirk Heischmidt also went 3 for 4 and delivered three RBIs for the Spikes.

Notre Dame Regional High School graduate Dylan Drury, who played at Parkland (Ill.) Junior College and has signed with Division II power Central Missouri State, led the Capahas with two hits.

Cody Hafeli, who played the past two years at Kankakee (Ill.) Community College, took the loss. He allowed five runs and 11 hits in six-plus innings while striking out two and walking two.

"He didn't do a bad job," Bolen said. "We just didn't get him many runs."

Heischmidt's first-inning RBI single gave the Spikes an early lead.

The Capahas tied it in the bottom of the first. Parmley tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Oran graduate Kody Campbell, who completed his junior season at Southeast this year.

Heischmidt's two-run, two-out third-inning double put the Spikes on top for good at 3-1.

Notre Dame graduate Jake Pewitt, who played this year as a freshman at Parkland Junior College, got an RBI single in the fourth inning to make it 3-2.

The Spikes tacked on three seventh-inning runs. The big blow was Dailey's two-RBI single off reliever Trent Wise, who completed his Southeast eligibility this year.

Two of the three seventh-inning runs were charged to Hafeli.

The Capahas host the Fairview Heights (Ill.) Redbirds, another traditionally strong team, today in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

"We'll just have to start another [winning] streak tomorrow," Parmley said.

Spikes 102 000 3 -- 6 13 2

Capahas 100 100 0 -- 2 7 0

WP -- Ryan Dailey. LP -- Cody Hafeli. 3B -- Kenton Parmley (C). 2B -- Kirk Heischmidt (S), Mike Tallis (S), Kit Crooks (S), Kody Campbell (C). Multiple hits -- Spikes: Dailey 3-4, Heischmidt 3-4, Tallis 2-3. Capahas: Dylan Drury 2-4. Records -- Spikes 25-4, Capahas 7-1.