Cape works overtime to beat Sikeston

A little small ball, a key call and some clutch hitting helped Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion team rally for a 6-5 10-inning victory against District 14 foe Sikeston on Wednesday night at Capaha Field.

With two outs and Kendal Deason on third base in the bottom of the ninth, Sikeston turned to Ben Pyles to retire Cape No. 3 hitter Patrick Slattery. Before Pyles even threw his first pitch to Slattery, the home plate umpire called Pyles for a balk to tie the game.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Cape starting pitcher Lee Essner said of the game-tying play.

In the 10th inning, Ford & Sons made its own luck. Essner, hitting for the first time in the game, roped a double into left field to start the inning. Kent Deason followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Essner to third.

With a 1-0 count on No. 8 hitter Tony Leuckel, Cape coach Michael Minner went for a suicide squeeze play. The play caught Sikeston off guard, but unfortunately for Cape the bunt attempt rolled foul. A few players later though a wild pitch got by Sikeston's catcher, allowing Essner to score the winning run.

"Finally we got some calls, some stuff went our way," Minner said. "We made gutsy calls all night."

Ford & Sons, which improved to 12-18 overall and 2-1 in district play, played an aggressive style despite trailing through much of the game. Whether it was through the hit and run or just straight steals, Cape was on the move.

Cape's aggressive style was epitomized by a two-run seventh which saw Ford & Sons collect only one hit in the inning. Leuckel led off with a walk. Zac Hudson grounded out, but with Leuckel on the move the only play was at first. Kendal Deason followed with an RBI triple and Scott Brueckner drove in Deason with a sacrifice fly to give Cape its first lead at 4-3.

"We're going to start putting some pressure on the other teams and see what happens," Minner said.

The aggressive play of Ford & Sons helped make up for a rough early going from Essner. Sikeston jumped on Essner for four hits and a run in the first inning, and if not for an outfield assist and a diving grab Cape would have been down even more.

Sikeston made it 2-0 in the second inning with a towering home run by Joey Bickings. A solo home run from Jordan Kimball in the fourth inning spread the lead to 3-0.

"I was really tired early on," Essner said. "The first two innings I left some balls up."

Brueckner helped Cape cut into the lead with a leadoff triple in the fourth. Brueckner's triple extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He scored on a double play ball off the bat of Sean Bard.

"That's pretty nice in your No. 2 hole," Minner said of Brueckner.

Cape struck again in the fifth. Kent Deason reached with one out after being hit by a pitch, and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Leuckel. Hudson followed with an RBI single.

Bickings put Sikeston ahead one more time with a two-out two-RBI triple. Essner struck out Brad Deere to get out of the eighth with only a one-run deficit. After a perfect ninth, Essner pitched around two hits in the 10th to pick up the win.

Essner allowed 11 hits in 10 innings of work. Over the final eight innings, Essner only allowed six hits.

"He battled all night," Minner said. "He didn't have his best stuff early, but he found it."

Ford & Sons matched Sikeston with 11 hits. Kendal Deason led the attack with three hits, including a double and a triple. Cory Huskey added three hits.

The win is Cape's second straight after beating Oakville 12-4 in the second game of a doubleheader late Monday. Bard, Huskey and Kendal Deason had two hits and two RBIs apiece in the win. Zac Horman pitched a complete game with six strikeouts.

"It's been hard, guys gone and guys hurt," Essner said. "This is one of the first times we've been able to come together as a team."