CHAFFEE SWEPT AWAY BY CAPE FORD & SONS

Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team still has a lot of work to do if it wants to capture the regular-season District 14 title.

But Ford & Sons certainly took a major step in the right direction Wednesday evening by sweeping a doubleheader from Chaffee at Capaha Field.

The 4-1 and 8-3 victories by Cape broke a second-place District 14 deadlock with Chaffee. Ford & Sons, now in second place all alone, improved to 16-4 in district play and 31-13 overall.

Senath, which continues to lead the seven-team District 14 race with only two losses, comes to Capaha Field today for a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader as Cape closes out its home schedule.

Since Senath still has to play Chaffee in a doubleheader (and perhaps a third game that would have to be made up from an earlier rainout if the district race remains tight), a Cape sweep today would give Ford & Sons a solid chance of finishing in first place and earning the top seed for next week's District 14 Tournament."It's going to be tough to sweep a really good ballclub like Senath," said Cape manager Ron Michel. "But these two wins tonight were huge. It gives us a shot now. We swept a good ballclub tonight. Chaffee has a solid team."Chaffee, which earlier this season had split with Cape, fell to 23-11 overall, 15-6 in district play."They were basically two pretty good games but we just didn't get the job done," said Chaffee manager Bruce Qualls.

The Notre Dame High pitching connection of Lanson DeBrock and Nathan McGuire -- along with a big assist from Cape Central High's Ross Bennett -- sparked the sweep.

DeBrock, a 1996 Notre Dame graduate who already has a season of baseball at Southeast Missouri State University under his belt, scattered eight hits in the 4-1 opener. He struck out four and walked three.

McGuire, a 1997 Notre Dame graduate who like DeBrock earned Class 2A all-state honors, hurled a five-hitter in the 8-3 nightcap. He fanned six, walked two and helped his own cause with a second-inning, three-run homer that gave him the lead for good."Our pitching was great tonight," Michel said. "It was really nice to only have to use two pitchers."Bennett, after delivering a run-scoring triple and throwing a runner out at home plate in the opener, went 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs in the second game."It's nice to win these two. We needed them," said Bennett. "Now we've got to get two more against Senath."DeBrock won a pitcher's duel from Justin Vetter in the opener. Vetter gave up only five hits and two of the four runs were unearned.

Tim Lowery and John Livingston each had two of Chaffee's eight hits.

Jason Harrell's RBI single in the top of the fourth put Chaffee ahead 1-0, but Cape took the lead for good with two in the bottom of the frame.

With two outs, Todd Pennington got an infield single as he beat out a grounder to deep short. Bennett then ripped a triple to score Pennington and Jeff Michel singled to score Bennett with the eventual game-winning run.

Cape took advantage of two Chaffee errors to plate two unearned insurance runs in the fifth."We left a lot of people on base in the first game. We had our chances," Qualls said. "To get eight hits against Lanson, who is one of the best pitchers around here, I'll take that. But they made the plays when they had to."The second game was also tight most of the way, Cape clinging to a 3-2 lead until breaking things open with a five-run sixth.

While Bennett had four of Cape's 10 hits in the nightcap, Trent Summers added two hits.

Kenny Gaebler had two of Chaffee's five hits.

Matt Schonhoff suffered the loss after allowing five hits and three runs in three innings. Jason Landis gave up four hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Chaffee returns to action Friday, hosting Perryville in a 6 p.m. doubleheader.