Cape Legion withstands early barrage

Cape Girardeau Post 63 Ford & Sons Senior American Legion baseball pitcher Andrew Williams was a bit shell-shocked early in Thursday night's game.

Visiting Poplar Bluff hammered Williams for two home runs, a double and three singles over the first two innings to score five runs.

"Coming out and getting pounded early, you wonder what you got yourself into," Williams said.

He soon got himself out of it.

Williams shut out Poplar Bluff on three singles over the final four innings as Cape went on to romp 15-5. The contest was stopped in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule.

Post 63 catcher Josh Compas raises his glove after tagging out Poplar Bluff base runner Sawyer Smith during the second inning Thursday at Capaha Field. (Kristin Eberts)

Post 63 improved to 27-9 overall and 2-4 in District 14 play. Poplar Bluff fell to 15-12 and 2-3.

Williams said he made some adjustments after the rough start.

"The first couple of innings I was leaving the ball up and my curve was staying inside," Williams said. "Everybody kept encouraging me and told me just to keep the ball down."

Williams struck out two, walked one and hit a batter.

"Andrew did a great job," Cape coach Todd Pennington said. "He was leaving the ball up early. He'd get ahead in the count and then leave one up.

"He got on top of the ball and started keeping the ball away from them. He got a lot of popups and ground balls. He did a great thing to make those adjustments."

While Williams improved to 3-0 -- including a non-district win over District 14 leader Dunklin County -- Cape's batters took a patient approach against Poplar Bluff left-hander Cody Stause.

Post 63 drew nine walks off Stause, who was relieved in the fifth inning. He allowed seven hits and 12 runs, eight earned, while striking out four.

"We beat a really good pitcher," said Skylar Cobb, who like Stause has signed to play at Three Rivers Community College. "We were patient. That was the key. We drew a lot of walks."

Three Poplar Bluff pitchers combined to walk 12, with seven of those coming in to score. Cape scored on two passed balls and twice on Stause throwing errors.

Post 63 had 11 hits, 10 of them singles. Cobb, Blake Smith and Jake Pewitt led the way with two hits apiece.

Smith, Ryan Grigaitis, Dustin Crowden and Trenton St. Cin all drove in two runs. Pewitt scored three times.

"Stause is a very good pitcher. All our hitters made him throw strikes, and when he put the ball over, we hit it," Pennington said.

Jake Smith's first-inning home run over the left-field fence at spacious Capaha Field gave the Express an early 1-0 lead.

Cape answered with four in the bottom of the first, getting four hits -- two of them bunt singles -- and receiving two walks.

Poplar Bluff came right back with a four-run second inning to go ahead 5-4, the key blow being Austin Brown's two-run homer to left field.

Again Post 63 answered, this time with five during an unusual bottom of the second. Three of the runs were unearned.

Cape had just two hits in the frame, the big blow being Crowden's two-run single. Post 63 received three walks and Poplar Bluff committed three errors, two of them the errant throws by Stause attempting to pick off runners.

Williams, given a 9-5 lead, closed the door on Poplar Bluff as Post 63 steadily pulled away for the rout.

"This was a good win," Cobb said. "They're a good team. They beat Dunklin County [handing the 28-4 Dodgers their lone district loss]."

While having a strong overall season, defending District 14 tournament champion Cape has fared poorly in district games that determine tournament seedings.

Post 63 hopes Thursday's victory gets it on a roll entering the final stages of the season. Cape will host both the district and zone tournaments later this month.

"Those other games are in the past. We can't do anything about them," Williams said. "We just want to start playing our best ball."