CAPE SWEEPS JACKSON; FORD & SONS WINS 7-0, 10-1

Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team bounced back Wednesday night and kept Jackson winless in the process.

Ford & Sons, coming off a 8-2 shellacking at the hands of Ballwin on Monday night, recovered to blow out Jackson in both ends of a doubleheader at Capaha Field.

Cape prevailed 7-0 in the opener and 10-1 in the nightcap to improve to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in District 14 play.

Jackson, in its first year of American Legion play, slumped to 0-11 overall, 0-6 in District 14 action."We played well, a lot better than we have been playing," said Cape manager Ron Michel. "We had a talk the other night (after the Ballwin loss) and we were all in the game in the dugout. There was no jacking around tonight. I was glad to see that."Ford & Sons didn't necessarily pound the baseball offensively Wednesday, getting 16 hits in the two games, but Cape was able to have enough timely hitting and plenty of strong pitching to win both games handily.

Andy Sweet and Nathan McGuire led Cape offensively with three hits in the twin bill. Both also drove in two runs, as did Ross Bennett and Todd Pennington.

Getting two hits on the evening were Bennett, Pennington and Chris Bradshaw. Bennett scored five runs while Pennington crossed the plate four times.

Bennett had the longest hit of the evening when he unleashed a ball that went way over the right-field fence for a home run in the first inning of the nightcap.

Jackson had nine hits in the two games, three coming off the bat of Jason Bandermann. Greg Lincoln added two hits.

Jeff Lappe was the winning pitcher in the opening-game shutout as he worked the first five innings, allowing four hits while striking out five and walking none. McGuire pitched two perfect innings, fanning four.

Pennington picked up the win in the nightcap as he hurled four dazzling innings in relief of starter Lanson DeBrock.

After DeBrock had given up Jackson's lone run and all five hits in three innings, Pennington pitched the last four innings in dominating fashion. He did not allow a baserunner while striking out 10 of the 12 batters he faced."Pennington can really throw," said Michel. "Lappe and McGuire both threw well. DeBrock's arm was a little dead so I only had him go three innings. We were kind of tuning everybody up for this weekend (at the Paducah Tournament)."Chris Leimer suffered the loss in the opener, allowing seven hits and all seven runs in six innings, while Mitch Dacus suffered the loss in the nightcap, allowing six hits and eight runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Mike McCall was Jackson's most impressive pitcher of the evening. He hurled 3 1/3 innings in the nightcap, giving up three hits and two runs, both unearned.

Cape will take part in the five-team Paducah (Ky.) Tournament this weekend. Ford & Sons will play two games both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, Cape will play Anheuser-Busch (12:30 p.m.) and Jefferson City (5:30 p.m.).