CHAFFEE EDGES OMAHA, CLINCHES POOL

ENID, Okla. -- Thrilling rallies are apparently becoming fairly routine for the Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy American Legion baseball squad.

Friday afternoon, Chaffee remained undefeated in pool play of the eight-team Mid-South Regional Tournament as it scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning without the benefit of a hit to knock off Omaha, Neb., 4-3.

Chaffee, which last weekend staged several rallies to clip Kirksville in the championship game of the Missouri State Tournament, improved to 53-11 on the season and to 2-0 in its four-team pool.

"This bunch never seems to get rattled. I think I get more excited than they do," said Chaffee manager Jeff Graviett with a laugh. "It was another nailbiter to the end but they keep coming up with ways to win games."

And things got even better for Chaffee later in the day when West Point, Miss., defeated host Enid, Okla., meaning Chaffee has clinched the top seed in its pool and will automatically advance to Sunday's semifinals regardless of what happens in its final pool game at 8 tonight against Enid.

Omaha and West Point, who play each other today, are both 1-1 in pool play while Enid is 0-2, so even if Chaffee loses tonight to fall to 2-1 only one other squad -- either Omaha or West Point -- will be able to match that record. And Chaffee has already beaten both teams, which gives it the tie-breaker edge.

"We're sitting in a great position now knowing we can just relax in this last pool game because it doesn't mean anything," Graviett said. "We're going to be one of the four teams still playing Sunday and we'll be the top seed from our pool, so the pressure's off."

Chaffee, which knocked off West Point 3-1 in Thursday's tournament opener, seemed to be in good shape Friday as it led Omaha (41-21) 2-0 in the seventh inning.

But starting pitcher Justin Simpher, who was virtually untouchable to that point, gave up three runs on three hits in the bottom of the seventh as Omaha surged ahead.

Omaha still led 3-2 heading into the ninth when Chaffee staged its rally. G.P. Glueck led off by being hit with a pitch and he stole second. John O'Rourke then hit a sharp ground ball that was booted by the shortstop and went to the outfield, allowing Glueck to come home on the error and tie the contest.

O'Rourke was able to move up to second base when the throw home got away. Perry Rice sacrificed O'Rourke to third and Andrew DePeder delivered a sacrifice fly to right field that chased O'Rourke home with the eventual winning run.

"We got a break on the error, but the kids stayed focused and executed in the ninth inning," said Graviett. "Perry put down a big bunt and Andrew got what we needed with the sacrifice fly."

But things were far from over. Matt Stroup, who had pitched all nine innings Thursday and took over for Simpher in the eighth Friday, allowed a leadoff infield single in the ninth and the runner went to second on a throwing error.

But the unflappable Stroup -- who escaped a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th inning of the state title contest against Kirksville -- came up big again as he retired the next three batters, two of them on strikeouts.

"Matt was bringing it. They had five of his pitches clocked at 88 miles per hour, and that's after throwing nine great innings the day before," said Graviett. "And Justin just threw his heart out for us."

Stroup, who notched his second victory in as many regional tourney games, improved to 16-2 on the season. In two innings, he allowed one hit and no walks while fanning three.

Simpher gave up all three runs and seven hits in seven innings. He fanned six and walked three.

Chaffee prevailed despite having just four hits off tough Omaha hurler Chris Emmanuel, who worked eight-plus innings.

Medicap Pharmacy went ahead 1-0 in the third inning. Jon Heuring and Glueck both walked and moved up on a throwing error, then Heuring scored on O'Rourke's fielder's choice ground ball.

Chaffee got its second run in the fifth. With two outs, Glueck singled, stole second and came home on a single by O'Rourke.