CAPS RETURN TO EARTH: PADUCAH SWEEPS NEWLY CROWNED REGIONAL CHAMPS

For one day at least, there was a major role reversal on the Capaha Field baseball diamond.

One team made all the right moves and came up with all the big plays -- only it wasn't the team you might expect.

The Kohlfeld Capahas, fresh off winning the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional championship on the very same field last weekend, were handed two rare losses Saturday when the Paducah (Ky.) Chiefs swept a twi-night doubleheader.

Paducah handed the Capahas their first shutout in two years in the 1-0 opener, then held on for a 7-6 victory in the second game.

The Capahas, whose only other two losses this season had been to Waterloo (Ill.), fell to 28-4. The Capahas had won three previous meetings against the Chiefs this year, although one of them was a one-run affair.

"Paducah has a pretty good ballclub and tonight they did a lot of things right," said Capahas manager Jess Bolen, who actually wasn't even serving as the team's skipper Saturday.

Bolen spent the two games in street clothes and out of the dugout, partly because of a bout with laryngitis and partly because he simply wanted two of his veteran players -- Cory Crosnoe and Darrick Smith -- to run the show.

"I thought I'd give some of those guys a chance to coach," said Bolen, who added with a laugh, "I took the day off and it looks like everybody else did too."

The Capahas certainly did not look like the team that won the NBC Mid-South Regional last weekend. But Bolen wanted to make sure that the Chiefs received plenty of credit.

"I kind of had a feeling something like this might happen," Bolen said. "We were so sky high for the tournament.

"But that's not to make any excuses. Sometimes you have to give the other team some credit."

Deserving most of the credit in the first game was Paducah pitcher Eric Moore, a sidewinding righthander who totally baffled the Capahas.

Moore, who had to work out of some early trouble, came within one out of a complete game, hurling 6 2/3 innings and allowing just four hits while striking out 10 and walking two.

"He pitched a great game against us," said Bolen.

The Capahas squandered some big early chances, having a runner on third with one out in the first and a runner on third with no outs in the second but failing to score.

Paducah pushed across the game's only run in the second as Ryan Massey's two-out single plated Matt Walton.

Kohlfeld loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs but Mike Joyner got the final out to end the contest.

David Michel pitched well for the Capahas, allowing six hits in seven innings. He fanned six and walked one.

In the nightcap, the Chiefs chased Kohlfeld pitcher Brandon West with a seven-run third that featured six hits, including a two-run double by Wes Cogdill.

Danny Simpher gave the Capahas a chance to rally by hurling 4 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits. He fanned four and walked one.

And the Capahas did nearly rally all the way back from a 7-0 deficit, scoring four in the fourth -- Ryan Murphy belted a three-run homer -- one in the fifth on Smith's solo shot and one more in the seventh. But the tying run was stranded on second base as the game ended.

Shawn Waller got the win, allowing five runs over the first 4 1/3 innings. The Chiefs got strong relief work from Lance Cary and Ricky Galloway, the latter earning a save by retiring the final three batters in the seventh.

The Capahas had 12 hits in the two games while the Chiefs had 16 hits.

The Capahas will visit Chester (Ill.) Tuesday night.