CHAFFEE JR. LEGION WINS ZONE

ST. LOUIS -- Chaffee's Junior Legion baseball team needed extra innings, but defeated Imperial 8-6 in its Zone Tournament championship game late Saturday night to advance to the state tournament.

Imperial had defeated Chaffee 12-1 earlier in the day in the first championship game of the double-elimination tournament. Imperial, which lost to Chaffee earlier in the tournament, appeared headed for total revenge, but saw the game slip away in eight innings.

Imperial held a 5-4 lead with two outs in the seventh and had Chaffee down to its final strike with nobody on. But Brad Kolwyck tripled, his third hit of the game, and then scored on a balk to tie the contest. Kolwyck faked a steal of home which disrupted the Imperial pitcher.

"We've always had that play if we needed it, and we needed it," said Chaffee coach Jeff Graviett of the fake steal.

Chaffee (30-15) went on to load the bases with nobody out in the eighth and saw all three runners score. A sacrifice fly by winning pitcher Brian Obermann scored the first run, while Kolwyck followed with another RBI flyball. Todd Friend capped the inning with his third hit and third RBI of the game.

Obermann pitched the final 2 2-3 innings, allowing three hits an striking out one. He relieved Matt Stroup, who allowed six hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out seven and walked four.

John O'Rourke suffered the loss in the opener. Allowing eight runs in five innings.

Friend also had three hits in the first game.

Chaffee, advancing to the state tournament for the first time, will open state play Thursday at Ballwin.