CENTRAL CLOSES CLASSIC WITH WIN

MILLINGTON, Tenn. -- Cape Central High's baseball team finished the rugged USA Classic Tournament on a strong note.

The Tigers, after losing their first two games in the tourney, won their final two contests, including Saturday's 14-5 romp past Horn Lake, Miss., that gave Central 13th place in the 16-team event.

"We saw some real good competition here," said Central coach Steve Williams, whose team is 3-2 overall. "Getting 13th place is probably not as important as the fact we went 2-2 and ended up playing real good baseball.

"Three teams here were ranked in the top 25 in the nation and all got beat. It just shows you how competitive the field was. I don't think our kids were overmatched, it was just a matter of us being so early in our season while most of the other teams had already played so many games."

Ross Bennett was the winning pitcher Saturday. He worked all seven innings, allowing eight hits while striking out nine and walking two.

Central had 13 hits, led by Jeff Beasley with three. Tatum Kitchen, Shane Gibson, Andy Sweet and Greg Craft all had two hits. Gibson homered while Kitchen drove in three runs.

The Tigers jumped on top 5-0 in the first inning. Horn Lake tied it with a five-run third, but Central scored the game's last nine runs to win going away.

Central returns to action Tuesday, hosting Jackson.