Chaffee's Payne tames Cape Central baseball team

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Sophomore Cody Payne was in total control on the mound Wednesday afternoon.

Once Chaffee's offense finally matched Payne's dominance, the Class 2 Red Devils had a rare baseball win over Class 4 Central. Payne fired a two-hitter and the Red Devils scored all their runs in the fifth and sixth innings to beat the visiting Tigers 7-2.

"It feels great," Payne said.

Chaffee, which defeated Central for the first time since 2001, improved to 2-0 while dropping the Tigers to 0-2.

"We want some respect, I guess," Chaffee senior Alex Crowe said. "We know we're a good baseball team. We want to show people."

Chaffee baserunner Alex Davie scores from third base as Central catcher Ryan Siebert takes the throw during the sixth inning Wednesday in Chaffee, Mo. Check out more photos from the game at semoball.com. (Fred Lynch)

Chaffee coach Brian Horrell hopes the Red Devils use the victory as a springboard to a big season. Chaffee returned many of its key players from last year's squad that went 19-7 and lost in the district finals.

"It feels real nice. Hopefully this will give us some confidence," Horrell said. "Coming into the season with quite a few people back ... it's good to have high expectations."

Central, which also is coming off an impressive season that ended in the state quarterfinals, lost more key players than Chaffee.

The Tigers' pitching staff was depleted by graduation, but coach Steve Williams might have found a young ace in freshman Chase Hagerty.

Hagerty allowed just three hits and two unearned runs over five innings in his first high school start. He struck out three and walked two.

Chaffee's Alex Crowe singles in a run against Central during the sixth inning Wednesday.

"He did a good job. He kept the ball low," Chaffee senior Alex Davie said.

Hagerty and the Tigers led 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning. Chaffee had a runner on second base with two outs when Payne's routine ground ball to third was booted and then thrown away for an error, which allowed a run to score and Payne to take second.

Crowe followed with the only hit of the frame, an RBI single, to tie things and give Chaffee momentum.

"Chase pitched great. He did a great job for his first time out and deserved a better fate," Williams said.

Williams said he didn't want to push Hagerty too far so early in the season, so he turned to senior Luke Hinkebein in the sixth inning.

"The game was tied and we wanted to give Luke some work," Williams said. "I just thought it was a good time" to replace Hagerty on the mound.

Chaffee jumped all over Hinkebein to break the deadlock and break open things with a five-run sixth inning that featured five hits and two walks.

Senior Trevor Cannon led off with a bloop single and Davie ripped a go-ahead triple to left-center field.

After a walk, senior Daniel Dooley put down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that scored Davie and allowed Dooley to reach base.

The Red Devils added two-out insurance on Payne's two-run single and Crowe's RBI single.

"We just hung in there and waited for our opportunities," Davie said. "We finally started hitting the ball."

The seven runs were more than enough for Payne, who allowed just three baserunners and retired the final 11 batters.

"All my pitches were working like I wanted," Payne said. "Just getting ahead and keeping them off-balance. My arm was feeling great. The warm weather helps a lot."

Payne, who struck out seven and walked one while receiving errorless defense, gave up both hits and runs in the second inning.

Senior Ryan Siebert singled and senior Thomas Crocetti doubled with nobody out. They scored on consecutive ground balls for a 2-0 lead.

Central's only other player to reach base was Siebert on a one-out walk in the fourth inning.

"He pitched a good game," Williams said about Payne.

Horrell said Payne was on a pitch count of 80. He reached 64 pitches through five innings and was well under 80 through six frames.

"He was only at about 84 or 85 pitches into the last inning," Horrell said. "We felt like he deserved a chance to finish it."

Said a smiling Payne: "I told coach I didn't want to come out. I wanted to finish."

Payne, Crowe and Cannon all had two of Chaffee's eight hits.

Central 020 000 0 -- 2 2 2

Chaffee 000 025 x -- 7 8 0

WP -- Cody Payne, 1-0. LP -- Luke Hinkebein, 0-1. 3B -- Alex Davie (Ch). 2B -- Thomas Crocetti (C). Multiple hits -- Chaffee: Payne 2-4, Alex Crowe 2-4, Trevor Cannon 2-4. Records -- Central 0-2, Chaffee 2-0.