Cape Legion stumbles late, settles for doubleheader split

For 12 of a scheduled 14 innings in Monday night's doubleheader, Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team appeared on its way to an emphatic sweep that would provide a much-needed boost to the struggling squad.

But even though visiting Paragould, Ark., rallied for a stunning 13-9 second-game victory to salvage a split -- Cape won the opener 7-1 -- Ford & Sons first-year head coach Michael Minner was far from down in the dumps.

"It's disappointing we couldn't get the sweep, but we did some good things. We're coming," said Minner, whose club is 5-9. "Things haven't been going our way and that happened tonight. Once they start going our way, I think we'll be all right. I just hope people don't give up on us."

Lee Essner helped get Ford & Sons off to a strong start by pitching a complete-game seven-hitter in the opener. The right-hander allowed an unearned run while striking out five and walking one. It was his first win of the summer after two defeats -- matching his loss total from his combined junior and senior high school seasons .

"It was nice to win again," Essner said. "I felt all right, but I really got behind a lot of hitters."

Cape banged out 11 first-game hits, led by Jason Umfleet with three. He also scored three runs. Kent Deason had two hits and drove in three runs. Patrick Slattery and Luke McClellan both added two hits.

In the second game, Paragould (10-4) trailed 9-4 after five innings but scored four runs in the sixth inning to get close, then went ahead for good with five in the seventh. Eleven of the visitors' 13 hits -- and all 13 of their runs -- came over the final three innings.

"That's a good ballclub. Once they started hitting, we couldn't shut it down," Minner said. "We made some errors and didn't make some other plays, but that's baseball."

Ford & Sons had 16 more hits in the nightcap. Slattery doubled twice and delivered four RBIs while Sean Bard had two hits and two RBIs. Essner, Jake Welch, Jason Schenimann, Tony Leuckel and Michael Taylor all added two hits.

Starting pitcher Cory Huskey was cruising with a two-hit shutout through four innings as Cape led 4-0. Huskey tired in the fifth and was removed as Paragould tied the contest at 4-4.

Cape bounced back with a five-run bottom of the fifth to go up 9-4 and appeared to be in command, but Ford & Sons' bullpen struggled as Paragould rallied.

Paragould's four-run sixth featured just two hits -- both infield singles -- but was helped by four walks while another batter reached base on a wild pitch after striking out.

In the seventh, Paragould's first batter was retired but the second reached on an error, which appeared to open the floodgates. After a walk, the visitors used five straight hits to take control. T.J. Eason singled home the tying run and Drew Kellums drove in the go-ahead run.

Kendal Deason, Cape's fourth of five pitchers, took the loss.

Kellums had four second-game hits for the visitors. Eason added three.

Ford & Sons returns to action Wednesday, hosting Jackson at 7 p.m. in its first district game.