CAPE LEGION DROPS DOUBLEHEADER

It has certainly not been a good last two days for Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team.

Cape headed to Chaffee Tuesday night with plenty of momentum but dropped a doubleheader.

Then Wednesday night, playing at home in non-district action against Creve Coeur, Ford & Sons lost two more games, falling 7-2 and 11-5.

Ford & Sons is now 13-12 overall while Creve Coeur, considered one of the top teams in the St. Louis area, improved to 11-3.

It wasn't so much that Cape lost both games but the way the team was beaten twice that irked Ford & Sons head coach Ron Michel.

Despite Creve Coeur playing without ace pitcher Brant Kraner, who is out with an injury, Cape managed just 11 hits in the two games and Ford & Sons committed nine errors, including seven in the second contest.

"It's definitely been a bad two days for us," said Michel. "I thought the games at Chaffee were about as bad as it could get for us, but I think tonight is even worse. We're just not playing good baseball right now."

Shane Gibson had four of Cape's 11 hits on the night.

For Creve Coeur, Scott Sanders, Brett Katz, Erik Reeder and Bob Zimmerman all had three hits.

Paul Cornejo pitched a six-hitter in the opener. He went all seven innings, allowing one earned run with three strikeouts and two walks.

Craig Ringwald suffered the loss. In 5 2/3 innings, he gave up seven hits and seven runs (five earned) while fanning four and walking five.

Travis Klipfel was solid over the final 1 1/3 innings, giving up no hits and no runs.

Creve Coeur led 3-0 before Cape rallied with one in the fourth and one in the fifth. But the visitors came up with a four-run sixth to put the game away.

Brad Taylor notched the victory in the nightcap, with just one of the five runs he allowed being earned. He gave up four hits.

When Cape rallied late, Fred Friedman came on to earn a save, fanning three and allowing just one hit in 1 1/3 innings.

Michael Minner took the loss. He gave up nine hits and eight runs (five earned) in six innings. Dustin Glastetter gave up four hits and three runs (two earned) in one inning.

Trailing 7-2, Cape pulled to within 7-5 in the sixth. But Friedman came on to get out of a jam and then Creve Coeur scored four in the seventh to ice the victory and complete the sweep.

Cape will return to action this weekend in the Paducah (Ky.) Tournament that will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"Hopefully we'll start to turn it around this weekend," Michel said. "The Paducah Tournament is always tough so we'll be tested."