CHAFFEE LEGION GETS IMPORTANT DISTRICT SPLIT

CHAFFEE -- The first game displayed the hitters, the nightcap saw a fine pitching duel.

In a battle for the top spot in the Senior American Legion District 14, the Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy split a twin bill with Dunklin County Saturday afternoon at Harmon Field.

Dunklin County (Senath) handed Chaffee its first district loss of the season 11-5 to start out, but the host squad remained league leader taking the second game 3-0.

The game featured a variety of Southeast Missouri's aces as well as the top batsmen.

Despite splitting, both coaches came away very pleased saying just about the same thing.

"There's still a ton of games to go, but this is nice right now to be atop the league," said Chaffee head coach Jeff Graviett. "This is my first win over Senath in my two years here. They are a really good ballclub."

With the split, Chaffee remains in the lead at 15-1 in district action and 18-2 overall, while Dunklin County is 22-3 and holds second in district play at 14-2.

Sikeston (16-6, 13-3), which swept Stoddard County (Dexter) Saturday, remains in third place.

The day was highlighted by Oran High's Garrett Cook, who finished the day 4-for-6 with a home run, a double and two RBIs.

The first game saw Kelly High's Justin Simpher taking on Caruthersville's lefty Landon Kersey.

Simpher surrendered five runs in the first but hung in for 5.2 innings before getting the hook.

Chaffee scored three in the bottom of the first.

Dunklin County added two runs in the third, then closed up the game with four more in the sixth. Chaffee mustered two more runs one in the second and another in the fifth.

Every Dunklin County run was charged to Simpher (2-1), but only seven were earned on 11 hits and five walks. He struck out seven. Bill Posey closed up allowing two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.

"We made too many mistakes the first game, but made up for it in the second game," Graviett said. "We had some good pitching today despite the first game. We just didn't support Justin really well, although I was thrilled with our hitting today."

Kersey (4-0) struck out eight in his five innings of work. He allowed five earned runs on nine hits and two walks. Offensively, he was 3-for-5 with a double and a run.

Holcomb lefty Kerry Emerson closed up for Dunklin County, shutting down all six batters he faced striking out four of them.

Dunklin County's Chris McLain (Senath-Hornersville) also produced offensively in the opener, going 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Cook went 3-for-3 for Chaffee and Andrew DePeder had two hits and two RBIs.

Matt Stroup engaged in a pitching duel in the nightcap with Emerson to avoid the sweep.

Stroup (4-0) went the distance, striking out 11 batters in his four-hit shutout victory. He walked two.

Emerson (3-1) made just one mistake leaving an 0-2 pitch hanging and Garrett Cook smoked it over the left field fence for a solo home run. That proved to be enough for Stroup.

Emerson allowed just that one hit, struck out four and walked two in five innings.

Nathan Baker closed up for Dunklin County allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk.

Josh Eftink made Chaffee's lead a little more comfortable in the sixth when he singled in both Scott Eftink and John O'Rourke.

"We didn't make the plays offensively or defensively in the second game and we deserved to get beat making mistakes like that," said Dunklin County head coach Jamie Johnson. "Our pitching was good today in both games. Chaffee got the big hits in the second game and we didn't. It was the other way around in the opener."