Cape Girardeau Senior Legion swats away Sikeston

~ Post 63 improved to 2-1 in district play by capturing the opener

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 American Legion baseball coach Todd Pennington appreciated the way his team shook off a bad inning.

"One inning killed us, but we didn't let it get us down," Pennington said. "We came back and kept scoring. I liked that part of it."

Post 63 made all three of its errors in the third inning, which allowed host Sikeston to score five unearned runs.

Cape recovered to win Monday's District 14 opener of a doubleheader 12-7.

Post 63 also captured the non-district nightcap 11-8 for its eighth straight victory. Cape improved to 16-5 overall and 2-1 in district play. Sikeston fell to 4-8 and 0-3.

"We're doing pretty good right now," said Andrew Williams, the first-game winning pitcher. "Everybody is into it."

Cape never trailed, taking the first of four leads on Jimmy Obermark's two-out, solo home run in the top of the first inning.

"I didn't think it had a shot at first," said Obermark, whose drive to left field was aided by a strong wind.

Sikeston tied things in the bottom of the first with an unearned run on a passed ball.

Post 63 looked like it would breeze when it scored five third-inning runs -- just two were earned -- to go ahead 6-1.

Then came Cape's one hiccup. Three of Sikeston's first five batters in the bottom of the third reached on errors.

That set the stage for the big blow of the inning -- Drew Harper's grand slam to left that forged a 6-6 tie.

"We were a little sloppy. Just the one bad inning, I guess," Obermark said. "Other than that, we played pretty good."

Williams wasn't about to blame his defense and gave Harper plenty of credit.

"I left that one pitch up to Drew," Williams said. "He made me pay for it. He's a really good hitter."

Cape went back ahead 7-6 in the fifth inning, but Sikeston immediately answered in the bottom of the frame, forcing its third tie when Harper's RBI triple made it 7-7.

That's when Cape finally took control for good, breaking the deadlock with two sixth-inning runs and adding three seventh-inning insurance tallies.

Jamie Pickel led off the sixth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Austin Davis.

Ross Moldenhauer's RBI single plated Pickel with the go-ahead run, and Obermark's RBI double brought home Moldenhauer.

Davis had the key blow of the seventh, a two-run single. Pickel added an RBI single.

"We hit the ball pretty good," Obermark said.

Williams pitched six innings, allowing six hits and just one earned run. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.

"Andrew pitched real well," Pennington said. "He kept the ball down."

Moldenhauer worked the final inning. He retired the first two batters before a single and two walks loaded the bases. A ground ball ended things.

"We've got a good streak going," Obermark said.

Cape had 12 hits, led by Pickel with three.

Moldenhauer matched Obermark with two hits. Both drove in two runs. Josh Hiett also added two hits.

"Everybody on our team is swinging the bat real well right now," Williams said.

Trey Tigart took the loss. Six of the 12 runs he allowed were unearned thanks to four errors.

Post 63 banged out 14 more hits in the nightcap. Pickel, Trey Gardner and Luke Hinkebein all had three hits.

Pickel doubled twice and delivered three RBIs. Gardner homered and doubled.

Aaron Wendel was the winning pitcher.

Cape is back in action today, visiting district rival Jackson for a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Herzog Stadium.