Cape Junior Legion baseball looks to build on district title at zone

The Cape Girardeau Plaza Tire Post 63 Junior Legion baseball team has, so far, checked off the boxes on its list of goals. A strong 26-8 regular-season record; a district tournament title. Next up is the zone tournament.

"We're out at Capaha [Park] practicing right now," junior legion coach Josh Meyer said via phone interview Tuesday night. "We're putting in a good week of practice to be as prepared as we can be. We want to go in, have an edge to us and play competitively. Those teams are good, solid teams, but we've seen good, solid teams all year. I think [Cape senior legion] coach [Justin] Lieser did a pretty good job of setting up a schedule for us that's prepared us well."

The zone tournament begins Thursday at North County High School. Cape will take on Bonne Terre in the opener at 5 p.m.

The team reached this point after battling through the district tournament. Cape Girardeau Central's Cooper Crosnoe put in a strong performance on the mound to lead Post 63 past North Pemiscot before Cape fell to rival Jackson in Game 1 of the tournament championship. It bounced back to defeat Jackson in the second contest and advance to this week's bracket.

"[Jackson is a] crosstown rival, they're always going to give you their best and we had to fight tooth and nail," Meyer said. "They're a great program that always competes and has good teams."

Post 63 features players from Central, Notre Dame and Kelly high schools. Jacquen Cummins -- an All-Missourian selection and rising senior at Central -- and Nicholas Lindsay of Notre Dame have developed into leaders and middle-of-the-order hitters for a squad that, according to Meyer, has thrived on good chemistry and heady play.

"I think we've got a lot of guys that know the game of baseball," the coach said. "It's always good to have talent -- and we do, we've got plenty of talent -- but we've got guys that know the game of baseball, play the right way and play with pride.

"We had pretty high hopes for the season and we've met those expectations."

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Thursday

Game 1: Cape Girardeau vs. Bonne Terre, 5 p.m.

Game 2: Eureka vs. Rock Memorial 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 2:30 p.m.

Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 5 p.m.

Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 6: Championship -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m.

Sunday

Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch of Game 6 for championship if both teams have one loss, TBA

POST 63 JUNIOR LEGION ROSTER

Austin Dill (Notre Dame), Brenden Wilkens (Cape Central), Cole Emmenderter (Cape Central), Noah Arnzen (Notre Dame), John Tyler (Kelly), Noah Gartman (Cape Central), Cooper Crosnoe (Cape Central), Jacquen Cummins (Cape Central), Jawone Newell (Cape Central), Sam Dirnberger (Notre Dame), Drake Mills (Cape Central), Elijah Huey (Cape Central), Nathan Patterson (Cape Central), Ben Jansen (Notre Dame), Nicholas Lindsay (Notre Dame), Wyatt Ledure (Kelly), Jake Vaught (Cape Central), Reid James (Notre Dame)

Asst. coaches: Jimmy Obermark, Rex Crosnoe