DISTRICT CHAMPS: TIGERS UPEND SIKESTON 3-2

Not since 1997 has a Cape Central baseball team defeated the Sikeston Bulldogs.

The second-seeded Tigers couldn't have picked a better time to snap the seven-game losing streak as they upset the top-seeded Bulldogs, 3-2 at Tiger Field on Thursday in the Class 4A District 1 championship game.

It's the Tigers' first district title since 1996.

Cape Central (20-7) advances to the Class 4A sectional game Thursday in St. Louis where they will face the District 2 winner.

"It's been almost two and a half years since we've beaten them," said Cape Central head coach Steve Williams. "Sikeston's got such a great program and we talked about (the streak) and the fact that it was our turn. Whether or not it was against Sikeston didn't matter. We're just happy to be district champions."

Central's Jay Pierce took care of business on the mound for the Tigers. He went all seven innings and allowed two runs off nine hits and one walk while striking out three.

"Jay was outstanding today," said Williams. "He's done that all year, he's 6-0 now so we had no qualms about throwing him out there today. We knew he'd throw strikes. After the first inning he settled in and shut them down the rest of the way."

In both their wins over Cape Central during the regular season, the Bulldogs used some luck to overcome the Tigers. From the start on Thursday, it seemed like it was going to be Cape Central's day.

Sikeston (20-4) scored only one run in the first inning despite having the bases loaded with nobody out. Bobby Landers' sacrifice fly scored Adam Garrett for a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers, playing as the visiting team, tied the game in the top of the fourth inning when Landers botched a ground ball at first base that allowed Zac Fidler to score. Josh McIntosh gave his team the lead with a sacrifice fly to score Mark Fisher.

But in the bottom of the fourth inning, bad luck struck Sikeston again. With runners on first and third, Jamie Puckett hit a double to the left field corner. The tying run scored, but the go-ahead run was halted at third because the ball went past the fence and out of bounds for a ground-rule double.

"That's a big play because if it hits that pole down there then we definitely get two runs out of that," said Sikeston head coach Kevin Self. "You can't do anything about that."

Cape Central took the lead for good when Chad Jones scored on another Bulldog error that would've ended the inning.

"It came down to them making the plays and we didn't," said Self. "You've got to be able to catch it and throw it. That's two days in a row that we just didn't play very well. We had some base running blunders and some errors that hurt. You can't do that in a ball game of this caliber. Hats off to Cape because they played well. They pitched well, they didn't give us a lot of free passes and they made the plays."

Perhaps the play of the game happened in bottom of the sixth inning. With runners on first and second with two outs, Garrett hit a floater to left field, but a hard-charging Fidler made a sensational diving catch to end the threat.

"That was probably the turning point in the game because if he doesn't make that play then we tie it up and we may get some more because it may bounce around out there," said Self.

Sikeston hurler Billy Puckett scattered seven hits with one of his three runs being earned. He struck out seven and walked one.

Landers and Jamie Puckett each had two hits and an RBI for the Bulldogs.

Central's number six hitter, T.J. Erlacker, went 3-for-3, and ninth place batter Jones went 2-3 with a run.

"We had to have something out of the bottom of our lineup," said Williams. "They got on base and scored some runs. We didn't score many because their guy on the mound was good. But I'm so proud of this whole team. We've had some kids injured that couldn't play today, I'm so happy for them because they've worked hard and they deserve it."