CHAFFEE, ORAN TO MATCH STRENGTHS TODAY IN TOURNEY

CHAFFEE -- There's no doubt Chaffee is one of the best pitching teams around. And there's no doubt that Oran has one of the top hitting clubs in the area.

And both teams showed their strengths Friday at the eight-team Chaffee Classic.

Chaffee beat New Madrid 6-4 and Oran blistered Perryville 15-2. At Scott City, Shawnee (Ill.) edged Scott City 3-1. The results for the Senath-Dexter game were not available at press time.

Chaffee and Oran will play each other in an intriguing matchup between two of the area's top baseball teams today at 9:30 this morning in a winner's bracket semifinal at Harmon Field.

Shawnee will take on the Senath-Dexter winner in the other winner's bracket semfinal at 11:45 today.

Scott City will play host to Dexter or Senath in a consolation bracket game at 11:45, following the New Madrid-Perryville game.

Chaffee 6, New Madrid 4

Tommy Stidham, Chaffee's No. 2 starter, pitched brilliantly, throwing the first four innings then the last 1 2/3.

In between, he played right field while Rusty Duncan pitched in relief. Duncan, who entered the game with a 6-0 lead, was betrayed by his defense in the fifth and gave up four runs, only two of which were earned.

But Stidham came back in the sixth and looked stronger than he did during his first stint.

All told, Stidham went 5 2/3 and gave up no runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out eight, including three of the four batters he faced in the seventh.

"He threw extremely well today," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell, adding that he wanted to be able to limit Stidham's innings so he could pitch more in the tournament. "I was very pleased with the way we played, but mentally I think once they scored four runs, we forgot that we could score runs."

Offensively, Chaffee got some timely hitting and took advantage of numerous fielding mistakes by New Madrid.

The Red Devils got one run in the first on an RBI single by G.P. Glueck. Chaffee tacked on four unearned runs in the third with Glueck providing a two-run single. The Eagles committed four errors in the inning.

Chaffee scored its final run in the fourth when Stidham singled, advanced to second on an error, then scored on an error.

Glueck and Stidham were the only players with two hits for Chaffee. Glueck had three RBIs.

Oran 15, Perryville 2

It didn't take long for Oran (7-1), which entered the game batting .419 as a team, to set the tone.

Ryan Dennis led off the game with a walk, then Adam Friga deposited a pitch over the center-field fence to put the Eagles up 2-0.

Phillip Seyer followed Friga's homer with a single, then Garrett Cook, who entered the game batting .600, rifled a pitch over the fence in left.

Oran, after the four-run explosion in the first, never looked back as it scored one more in the second, three in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth.

Cook had an unbelievable day at the plate. He doubled, tripled and homered and ended up with four RBIs in four at-bats.

Seyer, Travis Friga and Ryne Wood each had two hits.

In all, Oran banged out 12 hits.

"We're hitting the ball real well right now," said Oran coach Mitch Wood. "We sometimes start five freshmen so we're tickled to death by it."

Adam Friga struggled with his control just a bit he walked four but he gave up just two runs on three hits. He struck out two and pitched around back-to-back errors in the second.

Shawnee (Ill.) 3, Scott City 1

A shaky Scott City defense allowed Shawnee to score two unearned runs in the first inning.

Behind a strong pitching performance by Derek Winans, those runs provided the margin of victory. After the rocky start, Scott City settled down and played well the rest of the game. Shawnee scored once more on a homer by Winans in the third inning. The Rams scored their only run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Ben Sample.

The hard-luck loser was Lucas Ward who gave up one earned run while allowing five hits, striking out four and walking one.

"Lucas pitched an outstanding game," said Scott City coach Mike Umfleet. "He doesn't throw real hard, but he does a good job of changing speeds and keeping the hitters off balance."

Scott City (3-5) outhit Shawnee 8-5 with Scott Johnston going 3-for-4.