Capahas' winning streak ends at 11 games

Plaza Tire Capahas manager Jess Bolen expected his squad to face a big challenge as it tried to extend its winning streak.

Bolen was accurate in his assessment of the opponent the Capahas faced Tuesday.

A club from Jacksonville, Fla., handed the Capahas a 10-8 loss during their third game at the Union Printers tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.

"Jacksonville has a nice club," Bolen said. "They're fast. They're young. They're good."

The Capahas fell to 22-4 as they saw their 11-game winning streak end. They finish round-robin play in the five-team tournament at 10 a.m. Thursday against the St. Louis Printers.

A victory would send the defending tournament champion Capahas to Thursday's 7:30 p.m. title game, where they would get a probable rematch with Jacksonville.

"It would be nice to get another shot at them," Bolen said.

The Capahas, who outscored their first two tournament opponents by a combined 34-5, looked like they might also have their way with Jacksonville.

Plaza Tire jumped out to a 6-1 lead after three innings and led 7-4 after five innings. However, the Florida squad took the lead for good with a five-run sixth inning that made it 9-7.

"It looked like everything was going good for us," Bolen said.

After Jacksonville scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Capahas tied it in the bottom of the frame. Plaza Tire moved ahead 2-1 in the second and put up four in the third.

Jacksonville answered with three runs in the fifth, but the Capahas got a run back in the bottom half to go ahead 7-4.

Then came Jacksonville's big sixth inning that knocked out starter Dustin Hunter.

Hunter was charged with six runs, five earned, on six hits. He struck out four and walked five.

Bryan Waldrop took the loss, allowing three runs while retiring just one batter. He walked three and gave up a double.

"Hunter just tired and Waldrop didn't have anything. He couldn't throw a strike," Bolen said.

Trent Wise allowed a run over the final three innings.

The Capahas continued to pound the baseball with 19 hits, giving them 65 hits in their three tournament games.

"With 19 hits, you expect to score more than eight runs," Bolen said. "Really, we should have won the game. We only made one error and they only had 11 hits, but we walked too many guys."

Kenton Parmley went 4 for 6 with three RBIs. Kody Campbell went 3 for 5, making him 11 for 17 in the tournament. They both doubled to account for the Capahas' only extra-base hits.

Michael Troth and Clint Cashen also went 3 for 5. Cashen drove in two runs. Ky Burgess and Jake Pewitt both added two hits.

"We keep hitting the ball up and down the lineup," Bolen said.

But the Capahas managed just two hits and no runs over the final three innings.

"They brought in a left-hander for the last three innings and we couldn't do much against him," Bolen said. "He didn't throw real hard, but after seeing a right-hander who threw pretty hard the first six innings we couldn't adjust."

Jacksonville's offensive star was Dave Hellett, who went 4 for 5 with four RBIs.

"He's the main guy that hurt us at the plate," Bolen said. "He's a shortstop, a really nice ballplayer, a good fielder with a good arm."