Cape Central powers way by North County

The ball was flying around the yard on Friday afternoon and the Cape Central Tigers took full advantage as they beat the North County Raiders 10-4 at Cape Central High School.

The Tigers were able to take advantage of some Raider miscues in the first inning to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Anytime you can take advantage of mistakes like that it’s going to help your offense,” Tigers coach Justin Lieser said. “We’ve had to face some really tough pitchers lately so it was nice to get a lead.”

After North County responded with a run of its own in the top half of the second, Cape Emmenderfer hit an opposite-field 2-run blast to make it 5-1 Tigers.

“Cade has power to all fields,” Lieser said. “He just has a solid approach every time he gets in there. He’s going to compete and he’s going to battle even if he gets two strikes on him.”

Freshman Chapman Ogles got the start for the Tigers and he was able to pitch into the 5th inning as he went 4 and a third innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and picking up 4 strikeouts on the way to a win.

“He was around the zone like always,” Lieser said. “Our defense knows that he’s around the plate and the ball will be in play so they need to be ready.”

Emmenderfer would strike again in the bottom of the third when he singled into right field to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 6-2.

Ogles would run into some trouble in the top of the 4th as the Raiders tacked on 2 runs but he was able to work around the activity on the bases.

“One of the biggest things moving forward is not just his pitching ability but his ability to manage situations,” Lieser said. “(Tonight) he didn’t get too excited and was able to keep his emotions in check and focus on the job.”

Morgan Lincoln would take the ball with 1-out in the top of the 5th and he pitched 2 and two-thirds innings allowing just 1 hit and picking up 3 strikeouts.

“Just an outstanding job by him,” Lieser said. “We knew we wanted to keep Chapman around a certain pitch count and Morgan knew that ahead of time so he was ready to go when called. He knows his role and what he means to this team.”

Emmenderfer finished the game 3-for-3 with a walk, 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored.

As a team, the Tigers pushed across 10 runs on 14 hits and 2 walks.

Also contributing were Cole Proffer, Jathan Spain, Hayden Bowers and Morgan Lincoln with an RBI a piece.

Cape Central (5-8) is back in action at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 17 when the Tigers host the Notre Dame Bulldogs at Cape Central High School.

“We haven’t played our best in our conference so far this season,” Lieser said. “We’d like to come out and put on a good show.”