Cape Girardeau drops opener in American Legion zone baseball tourney

The Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 American Legion baseball team dug itself an early hole in the Zone 4 tournament that it is hosting at Capaha Field.

Cape lost to Creve Coeur 11-7 in Thursday's opening game of the five-team double-elimination event.

That means Post 63 now needs five straight wins to capture the championship and qualify for next week's state tournament.

"We'll see how much we want it," Cape's Andrew Williams said.

Cape will begin its daunting quest at 3 p.m. today against District 14 rival Dunklin County, which fell to Festus 3-1. If Post 63 wins, it would play another elimination contest at 9 p.m. today.

Cape Girardeau's Trey Gardner gets a hit during the fourth inning Thursday at Capaha Field. (Kristin Eberts)

"Just one game at a time now," Cape's Jimmy Obermark said. "Come back out in this heat and try to win tomorrow."

Post 63 (26-15) scored in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Obermark, but Creve Coeur (25-12) built a 7-1 lead through three innings.

"We had a bad start and it was a tough game," Williams said.

Cape tied it at 7-7 with a six-run fourth inning only to see Creve Coeur come back with three in the bottom of the fourth.

"It's rough," Obermark said. "It comes down to timely hitting. They did it better than we did."

Creve Coeur displayed power with two home runs among its 14 hits. A three-run first-inning blast by Brad Konecek gave his squad a 3-1 lead.

Gary Russo's two-run third-inning shot was part of a three-run uprising that opened a 7-1 advantage and completed the damage against Cape starter Cody Livesay, who allowed eight hits.

"They've got a good hitting team," Cape coach Todd Pennington said.

Post 63 had its shining moment at the plate in the fourth inning when it did its only serious damage against Creve Coeur starter Blake Kolons.

Cape had six of its nine hits in that six-run frame. Willliams had a two-RBI double while Logan Morris and Trey Gardner added RBI singles. Williams scored the tying run on a wild pitch to make it 7-7.

Creve Coeur came right back to grab the lead for good with a three-run fourth.

Two of the runs were unearned after a fly ball was dropped for what would have been the third out. Russo had the go-ahead RBI single.

"We were right there with them. We made some costly mistakes," Pennington said.

Ronnie Scott, who relieved Livesay to begin the fourth inning, took the loss. He allowed four runs, two earned, and five hits over four innings. Ross Moldenhauer worked a scoreless ninth inning.

Kolons pitched eight innings for the win. He allowed nine hits and seven runs and improved to 6-0. The left-hander struck out eight and walked two.

"He had a really good changeup. He kept us off balance," Obermark said.

Jonathan Brand pitched the ninth. He hit the first batter and issued a walk before recording three straight outs.

Russo led Creve Coeur offensively, going 4 for 4 with a home run, double and three RBIs. Konecek went 3 for 5 with a homer and three RBIs. Matt Hresko added two hits and two RBIs.

"I didn't think we played that bad," Pennington said. "Tip your cap to them. They did a good job hitting in key situations."

Creve Coeur also flashed strong defense with several impressive plays, including a brilliant one by shortstop Danny McCune. He made a diving stop of a ground ball in the hole and threw to first for the out.

Cape had nine hits, led by Williams and Obermark with two apiece.

"It's tough now, especially in a good zone like this. Every team here is tough," Pennington said. "We'll see how much heart this team has."