Caps out in two straight at Wichita

The Maxim Yankees of California sent Plaza Tire home with a 4-3 decision.

WICHITA, Kan. -- All the momentum the Plaza Tire Capahas carried into the National Baseball Congress World Series failed to pay dividends.

The Capahas were eliminated from the 71st annual event in the wee hours of Saturday morning with a 4-3 loss to the Maxim (Calif.) Yankees. Plaza Tire had dropped its tournament opener on Monday, 4-1 to the Wichita (Kan.) Gators.

So the Capahas, who entered their 24th consecutive NBC World Series appearance with a 10-game winning streak, closed the season with a two-game losing streak. They finished with a 24-8 record.

"You always hope you can do better in this tournament," Plaza Tire manager Jess Bolen said. "Really, we played two pretty good ballgames, but we just didn't hit the ball well enough.

"But once you get out here, all the teams are very good. You can play well and still lose."

The Capahas had only six hits for the second time in the tournament, although they outhit the Yankees, who finished with just four hits.

But Maxim had by far the game's biggest blow, a grand slam from Jimmie Van Ostrand in the top of the seventh inning that erased a 1-0 Plaza Tire lead and put the Yankees ahead to stay.

Van Ostrand's blast was one of the few blemishes against Plaza Tire starter Matt Stroup, who gave up three of the four hits he allowed in that seventh inning.

Stroup, who suffered the loss, struck out four and walked six in 6 1/3 innings. One of the four runs was unearned. Jamie McAlister pitched the final 2 2/3 innings in perfect fashion, striking out three.

"Matt pitched very well, and Jamie was just lights out when he came in," Bolen said.

The Yankees had a strong hurler of their own in Gary Daly, a right-hander who pitched the final six innings for the victory. He allowed two runs and four hits, with eight strikeouts and one walk.

"He was probably throwing 96, 97 miles per hour," Bolen said of Daly, who will be a junior at Cal Poly. "I wouldn't be surprised if he gets drafted really high next year."

Plaza Tire grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Bryan Kurt's single scored Lance Seasor, who had also reached on a single.

That's the way things stood until the Yankees erupted in the seventh.

The Capahas made things interesting with two runs in the eighth, but Bolen lamented that they could have had more.

With one out, Robby Moore and Seth Hudson both singled, then Seasor drove in Moore with a double. Josh Eftink walked to load the bases, but Kurt struck out. Hudson scored on a wild pitch, which left runners on second and third, but they were stranded there when Bryan Ingram fouled out to the catcher.

The Capahas then went down in order in the ninth as the Yankees improved to 2-1 in the tournament. Seasor and Hudson both had two hits for the Capahas.

"We had a good chance to win it in the eighth inning," Bolen said. "It was a great game. We just came up short."

Plaza Tire had had just 12 hits in 18 tournament innings, with Seasor's double against the Yankees being the Capahas lone extra-base hit of the tournament. They scored only four runs.

"Our pitching and defense were solid in both games, plenty good enough to do well, but we just didn't score enough. We just couldn't get hits with men on base, but we faced some really good pitchers," Bolen said. "We were a couple of hitters short, to be honest with you."

Despite fizzling out in Wichita, Bolen had no complaints about the season in general.

"We went 24-8, which is a pretty good record," he said. "You always want to do better in the big tournament, but I think overall we had another good year."