DEVILS PUSH PAST TIGERS, REACH FINAL

The Chaffee Red Devils are like the IRS.

They make you pay.

Chaffee (15-1), the No. 2 seed, took advantage of a handful of Cape Central mistakes Saturday night and got a brilliant pitching of G.P. Glueck as the Red Devils knocked off third-seeded Cape Central 4-2 in a well-pitched game.

Meanwhile, Sikeston proved it was deserving of the first seed with a 14-3 waxing of No. 4 Notre Dame in the other semifinal.

Sikeston and Chaffee will meet for the championship Monday night at 7:30 p.m.

Glueck went 6-plus innings and allowed only two runs on just four hits while striking out three and walking four.

Glueck struggled with his control a bit early, but settled down and held the usually potent Central attack to one hit in the third through sixth innings.

"I have confidence in Mr. Glueck," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell, who pitched ace Matt Stroup against seventh-seeded Chaffee. "I know there were a lot of questions about the decisions I made, but I had a lot of confidence in G.P. Have had since Day One."

"I didn't feel comfortable the first three innings," Glueck said. "But my stuff started working in the later innings."

Central ace Jason Chavez pitched a gem as well, but didn't get the defense that Glueck got.

Chavez allowed four runs on six hits, while walking one and striking out nine. Three Central errors led to two unearned runs.

"We didn't play well enough to win," Central coach Steve Williams said. "We had three errors, four hits; we botched a sacrifice bunt and missed a cutoff man. You can't do that and beat a good team. And obviously, Chaffee is a good team."

Cape Central drew first blood in the second inning when Dusty Barrows led off with a sharp single up the middle. Zac Fidler then doubled Barrows home and took third on an error. Fidler then scored on a wild pitch to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Chaffee finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. G.P. Glueck singled to lead off the inning. Rusty Duncan then hit a sinking line drive to left, but Central's freshman left fielder misplayed the single and Duncan ended up at third. Duncan scored on a sacrifice fly by Rocky Portell.

Chaffee, whose only loss this season is to Cape Central, took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth.

Matt Stroup led off with a single and Glueck doubled him home. Glueck later scored on an error by catcher Barrows.

Sikeston brings out the bats

In the Sikeston-Notre Dame game, Sikeston ripped the ball to all fields and returned to early season form. Sikeston, which dominated teams early this season but struggled a bit in the week leading up to the tournament, poured it on early.

Less than a week after getting just three hits off Notre Dame hurler Scott Wittenborn, Sikeston figured out the tall right-hander this time.

Sikeston chased Wittenborn after only 1 2/3 innings of work. He gave up 10 runs, nine earned, on nine hits and a walk.

"Scotty was getting it up in the strike zone but you still have to hit it," Notre Dame coach jeff Graviett said. "They just crushed the ball the first couple of innings. You can't take anything away from them."

Sikeston scored five runs on six hits in the first and five runs on six hits in the second inning.

Notre Dame scored two in the bottom of the first, but the second frame proved to be the Inning of Doom for Notre Dame, which suffered its first run-rule loss in at least two years.

Sikeston got a solid pitching performance from Bobby Landers. Landers held Notre Dame to three runs on seven hits. He struck out two. At the plate, Landers went 2-for-4 with the biggest hit of the game, a three-run home run in the second inning.

Sikeston scored one in the third and three in the fifth.

Notre Dame added one more in the fifth.

Freshman Blake DeWitt, Kent Chappell and Chris Cota each had three hits for Sikeston. All three doubled.

For Notre Dame, Andrew DePeder and Timmy Wencewicz had two hits apiece.