CAPS STILL IN NBC HUNT;KOHLFELD, O.B. CLARK MEET IN WINNERS' BRACKET FINAL

When the bracket for the 1997 National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional Tournament was unveiled, it's a sure bet that almost everybody picked the host Kohlfeld Capahas and St. Louis O.B. Clark as the two heavy favorites.

It was not surprising, then, that those rival teams hooked up late Saturday night in the winner's bracket final of the five-team, double-elimination event at Capaha Field.

In a game that was still going on as the Southeast Missourian went to press, O.B. Clark was leading 8-7 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

By the time the Capahas and O.B. Clark hooked up Saturday night, the field had been trimmed to three squads, with Paducah (Ky.) being the survivor from the loser's bracket.

Paducah's Chiefs defeated Pine Bluff (Ark.) 14-5 in the elimination game that proceeded the winner's bracket final.

Earlier Saturday, Paducah eliminated Goreville (Ill.) 12-7 while the Capahas improved to 24-2 by rolling past Pine Bluff 16-4 in a contest stopped after seven innings by the run rule.

Action will continue today as the tournament could come to a close, but there is no guarantee of that.

Starting off today's play will be a 1 p.m. elimination game between Paducah and the loser of Saturday's late Capahas-O.B. Clark contest.

Then at about 4 p.m. today, the two remaining squads will square off in the finals. If no team is undefeated after that, one more game will be played Friday at 8 p.m. to decide the Mid-South Regional title.

The winner of the Mid-South Regional earns an automatic berth in next month's NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

O.B. Clark has won the past two Mid-South Regional championships to advance to Wichita while the Capahas have also earned NBC World Series at-large berths during those seasons.

Kohlfeld, after being dominated by O.B. Clark last year, had won all four regular-season meetings against the St. Louis squad this summer. But Capahas manager Jess Bolen was still mighty wary of O.B. Clark.

"We beat them four times (during the regular season) but the last two games were both by one run," said Bolen prior to Saturday's contest. "They're still a really tough team and really they're the team to beat in this tournament until somebody knocks them off."

O.B. Clark jumped out to an 8-1 lead before the Capahas rallied in the sixth.

The St. Louis team pounded out 11 hits against Capahas pitcher David Michel, including a monster two-run home run by Dan Chinici in the top of the sixth inning that put them ahead 8-1.

Earlier, Chinici had drilled a two-run double in the third to put O.B. Clark ahead 2-1.

Steve Kress hit a two-run homer in the sixth to pull the Capahas to within 8-7.

During Saturday's 16-4 win over Pine Bluff, the Arkansas squad put up a decent challenge for several innings before the Capahas ended the contest early by scoring two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh.

After getting 13 hits during Friday night's opening-round 13-1 win over Goreville in seven innings, the Capahas banged out 16 more hits against Pine Bluff.

Ryan Murphy and Darin Kinsolving led the way with three hits each while Darrick Smith and Cory Crosnoe both had two.

Murphy homered, drove in five runs and scored three times while Tom Breuer homered, had two RBIs and scored three runs. Kinsolving, Kress and Julio Vega all added two RBIs.

Jason Duncan pitched all seven innings to earn the victory. He allowed seven hits while striking out four and walking three.

Sebastian Stargell had two hits for Pine Bluff. Marcus Jackson was the losing hurler, allowing 10 hits and 10 runs in four innings.

The Capahas got off to a fast start, scoring four runs in the opening inning.

Pine Bluff, officially the home team on the scoreboard after a coin flip, took advantage of Duncan's early wildness to score three times in the bottom of the first. Duncan walked three batters and gave up three hits.