CHAFFEE LEGION DEFEATS CAPE, EXTENDS WINNING STREAK TO 25

CHAFFEE, Mo. --The way American Legion District 14 baseball has stacked up this summer, earning one of the top two seeds for next week's postseason tournament figures to be mighty important.

Chaffee took care of that task Friday night by beating visiting Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons 12-3 in the first game of a doubleheader. The second game was still under way as the Southeast Missourian went to press.

Chaffee, which finished up its regular season Friday, improved to 39-8 overall and 22-5 in district play with the opening-game victory as the team posted its 25th consecutive triumph.

Entering Friday's action, Chaffee was tied for first place in the regular-season district standings with Dunklin County, which played a doubleheader against Poplar Bluff. No results were available at press time.

Cape, 24-18 overall, fell to a third-place 18-7 in District 14 and can finish as no higher than the No. 3 seed. Cape ends the regular season today with a 6 p.m. district doubleheader at Sikeston, which is 18-8. The twin bill will determine the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds for the tournament.

Medicap Pharmacy will open district tourney play at Dunklin County next week against either Stoddard County or Charleston, who tied for last place and were by far the worst teams in the eight-team district. Stoddard County and Charleston both went 2-26, splitting four games against each other.

"The way the district has gone this year, getting one of the top two seeds was important, so this is a big win for us," said Chaffee manager Jeff Graviett following Friday's first-game victory. "That's been our goal the last few weeks, to make sure we stay up there."

Chaffee did that handily by jumping out to a 10-0 third-inning lead in the opener and coasting. The host squad took advantage of poor Cape defense -- Ford & Sons committed four errors in the first two innings, which led to six unearned runs -- and also sparkled at the plate with 12 total hits.

"We did a good job of jumping on them early," Graviett said. "We hit the ball and they made some mistakes. But we've been playing really well the last few weeks and hopefully we can keep it up."

G.P. Glueck and John O'Rourke paced Chaffee's offense in the opener with three hits each. They also drove in two runs apiece while Glueck had two doubles.

Garrett Cook had two hits and two RBIs while Andrew DePeder homered and tacked on three RBIs.

Justin Simpher, one of Chaffee's aces, did not have his best stuff but he still cruised to a complete-game victory. In seven innings, Simpher allowed five hits and all three runs were unearned. He struck out four and walked one.

"He's a battler," said Graviett of Simpher. "He didn't have his best stuff, but he still did well. That's the kind of pitcher he is."

Timmy Wencewicz went 3-for-3 to lead Cape offensively.

Starter John Thies, recently brought up from Cape's standout Junior Legion team that ended its season Monday, suffered the loss. In 2 1/3 innings, he allowed 10 runs (four earned) on nine hits, with one strikeout and one walk.

Rob Carr gave up two runs on three hits in 3 2/3 solid relief innings. He fanned one and walked one.

"We got off to a bad start," said Cape manager Tom Reinagel, who saw Chaffee use a seven-run second to go up 9-0. "We played poor defense and they hit the ball."