CHAFFEE, CAPE GET DISTRICT VICTORIES

Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons and Chaffee both recorded bounce-back victories Wednesday night as the District 14 American Legion baseball tournament continued at Capaha Field.

Second-seeded Ford & Sons, which had been run-ruled by Jackson in Monday's tourney opener, came back with a vengeance by eliminating sixth-seeded Van Buren by way of a 19-2, run-rule destruction.

Third-seeded Chaffee, which had lost to Jackson in Tuesday's winner's bracket semifinals, rallied to eliminate fifth-seeded Poplar Bluff 13-6.

Action will continue today with two more games. Cape and fourth-seeded Sikeston play an elimination contest at 5 p.m. while top-seeded Dunklin County and seventh-seeded Jackson -- the tournament's Cinderella story -- square off in the winner's bracket final at 8 p.m.

Chaffee moves into Friday's 5 p.m. elimination game, where it will play either Cape or Sikeston. Another elimination contest will be held Friday at 8 p.m. while the finals are set for Saturday at 4 p.m.

For Cape during Wednesday's action, it was strictly a matter of what a difference a game makes.

After getting just three hits while being drilled by Jackson 11-0 in Monday's opener, Ford & Sons woke offensively in a big way by belting out 20 hits.

Cape evened its overall record at 23-23 while Van Buren ended its season with an 11-21 record.

"That was more like it," said Ford & Sons manager Ron Michel. "We had some intensity today. We hit the ball like I know we're capable of. That's what it's going to take the rest of this tournament."

Andy Sweet paced Cape by going 5-for-5 with two doubles and a triple. He also drove in two runs.

Shane Gibson went 3-for-3 with two RBIs while Justin McAlister also had three hits.

Chris Bradshaw, Scott Reinagel and Adam Bertrand all added two hits and two RBIs.

Todd Pennington had Cape's lone home run, a two-run shot in the seventh inning.

Craig Ringwald pitched five innings for the win. He allowed three hits and one run while striking out five and walking one.

Travis Klipfel gave up two hits and one run in one inning while Dustin Glastetter hurled a perfect seventh.

Tommy Chilton had two of Van Buren's five hits while Mark Keister homered and drive in both runs.

"We can still come back and win this thing, but it's going to be really tough," said Michel, whose squad would have to record five more wins in a row in order to claim the tournament title.

Chaffee, which opened the tourney by beating Van Buren before falling to Jackson, also has designs on coming out of the loser's bracket to win the championship.

After falling behind 6-1 after three innings, Chaffee stormed back by scoring the game's final 12 runs. Chaffee improved to 30-16 while Poplar Bluff finished at 12-18.

"It was nice to see us bounce back like that," said Chaffee head coach Mike Umfleet. "We fell behind early but never got down."

Ryan LeGrand settled down after a shaky start to pick up the victory. He allowed six runs (three earned) and six hits while fanning 11 and walking eight in seven innings. LeGrand allowed just two hits and no runs over his final five innings of work.

Ben Klipfel finished up, allowing just one hit over the last two innings.

Chaffee had just nine hits but took advantage of five errors and 15 walks.

John Livingston and Josh Hanlon both had two hits while Livingston drove in three runs.

Chaffee scored three in the fourth and two in the fifth to tie the contest, then scored the winning run in the sixth as Denver Stuckey singled, went all the way to third on an error and came home on a ground out by Keith Anderson.

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Six runs over the final three innings helped Chaffee ice the victory.

Scottie Lindsay and Randy Welsh both had two of Poplar Bluff's seven hits.

Staci Robinson, the second of five Poplar Bluff pitchers, took the loss. He allowed six runs (four earned) on just two hits in 2 1/3 innings.

American Legion Baseball

District 14 Tournament

(at Capaha Field)

Monday's Results

Game 1: Sikeston 8, Poplar Bluff 4

Game 2: Jackson 11, Cape 0 (7 inn.)

Game 3: Chaffee 11, Van Buren 5

Tuesday's Results