Craft, LaBruyere lead Tigers past Sikeston in 8-4 win

Central senior Ty Craft put on a show at the plate and ace Brad LaBruyere was dominant enough on the mound to lead the Tigers baseball team to their first SEMO Conference Tournament crown Tuesday with an 8-4 win over Sikeston at Central.

The Tigers (17-4), 8-1 against conference opponents in the regular season, outscored their three tournament opponents 24-8 in cruising to the title as the top seed.

"It's been one of our goals since we started the year," Craft said. "One of our goals was to win it for the first time, and now that it's over we have more goals to look forward to."

Sikeston, the No. 7 seed, has played in all six conference tournament championship games. The Bulldogs (12-10) fell to 3-3 in the conference finals, with their last championship coming in 2004 against Notre Dame.

Central's last championship appearance came in 2003, a 6-4 loss to Sikeston.

"It's great for us to beat a team like Sikeston," Craft said. "They're a great team. They have a lot of experience in this, and we hadn't ever won it. We're on a role at the right time."

Craft was 4-for-4 with five RBIs. Among his hits were a double and a two-run home run.

"He had four hits, five RBIs and he played a great shortstop," Central coach Steve Williams said. "You want to see leadership from your seniors, and we've gotten that from Ty."

The home run was the second for Craft this season, and his second in the past three games. Craft hit eight home runs during American Legion ball over the summer.

"He just hung a curveball pretty much directly where I was looking," Craft said. "It's not part of my game, but every once in a while you get that pitch your looking for, make solid contact and it carries."

The offense continued to give LaBruyere more than enough runs. Central has averaged more than eight runs in LaBruyere's starts against conference opponents.

Central scored three first-inning runs. The Tigers scored in the first inning in all three tournament games.

"That really helps," Williams said. "It makes your players better in the field and it lets your pitcher relax. Throughout baseball, so many times, it seems like whoever scores first usually wins."

LaBruyere threw a complete game Tuesday after pitching the Tigers into the championship game with a two-hitter Saturday. Sikeston was hitless in the first three innings and finished with just six hits. LaBruyere struck out six and walked two.

The win moved LaBruyere to 10-1 on the season and 8-0 against conference opponents.

"He wants the ball," Williams said. "He wants to be on the mound because he feels he can get it done."

Sikeston was not without chances against Central's ace. The Bulldogs had at least two runners on in each of the last four innings, including the bases loaded with the tying run at the plate in the fifth.

Five errors behind LaBruyere also aided the Bulldogs. Sikeston came into the game with a little success against LaBruyere, having beaten the junior last year in the conference tournament semifinals.

"LaBruyere throws pretty good," Sikeston coach Kevin Self said. "We still hit him. We had six hits, we scored four runs. He is a good pitcher, but we don't fear anyone. We come to play. We had situations we wanted; we just couldn't get the hit."

Jerod Scott took the loss for Sikeston, pitching all six innings. Scott allowed 10 hits, walked three and struck out one. Tyler Baker led Sikeston's offense with a two-run double.

Central spread out its 10 hits, with Craft the only Tigers batter with more than one. Blake Slattery scored twice, and was on base three times with a single and two walks. LaBruyere added an RBI double.

"We're playing pretty well right now," Williams said. "Hopefully we can continue to play well and gather momentum toward the district tournament."

Central 8, Sikeston 4

Sikeston 000 200 2 -- 4 6 1

Central 302 102 X -- 8 10 5

WP -- Brad LaBruyere, 10-1. LP -- Jerod Scott. HR -- Ty Craft (C). 2B -- Craft (C), LaBruyere (C), Tyler Baker (S), Josh Jackson (S). 3B -- Matt Hester (C). Multiple hits -- Central, Craft 4-4. Records -- Sikeston 12-10, Central 17-4.