FIVE TEAMS SEARCH FOR BERTH IN STATE TOURNEY

Based on records, Dunklin County and Ballwin appear to be the favorites heading into the American Legion Zone Tournament that begins today at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.

Dunklin County is 33-11 and Ballwin is 21-10. But the coaches of both teams were quick to point out that the zone field appears to be wide open, with Anheuser-Busch (21-15), De Soto (20-16) and host Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons (23-24) all having legitimate cracks at the title.

"I don't think there really is a favorite," said Ballwin coach Ken Eckert. "I think all five teams have a legitimate shot."

Added Dunklin County coach Randy Smith, "You never know what can happen in a tournament. I think all the teams will be solid and it's whoever plays the best."

Following is a look at the five teams, in order of their record:

Dunklin County

The Redbirds, who won their second straight District 14 Tournament title last week, lost both its zone games in 1997. Smith is hoping that experience pays dividends this week.

"We lost our first two (zone) games last year, but both were good games," Smith said. "We've got about six starters back from that team and hopefully the experience will help us."

Dunklin County, which bats better than .330 as a team, is led by first baseman Brian Branum with a .495 average.

Left fielder Chris McClain is at .350 while second baseman Cliff Collins, right fielder Josh Blaylock and shortstop Keith Robertson all hit around .330. Catcher Jarred Cude is the home-run leader with seven.

Robertson has been the Redbirds' top pitcher, with a 5-0 record and a 2.00 earned-run average. Jonathan Binkard and Blaylock are both 4-2.

"I think we have a pretty solid team overall," said Smith.

Ballwin

After coming out of the always-tough District 10 in St. Louis County, which features 12 teams, Eckert figures his squad is ready.

"It's a lot of work to win that district," he said. "I think we're a pretty good team and we're getting better."

Ballwin can certainly hit the baseball, as evidenced by its team batting average of right around .390.

Designated hitter Bobby McGlasson hit .500 in league play to win the St. Louis batting crown. Leadoff man Justin Friesmeyer is at .433 overall for the season.

Third baseman Ryan Spillenkothen is batting .400 with six home runs while left fielder and cleanup man Bob Schmalz is at .370 with a team-high nine homers.

Center fielder Pat Ricke is hitting .400 while shortstop Taylor Twellman, one of the premier all-around athletes in the country, is at .360.

Twellman, the national high school soccer player of the year, will compete in both soccer and baseball at the University of Maryland.

"He's definitely worth coming out to see," Eckert said.

The top pitcher is 6-foot-7 Rob Sine, 7-2 with a 3.40 ERA. Lefthander Craig Langan and 6-foot-9 Jason Sharp are next in line.

Anheuser-Busch

A-B generally doesn't face a whole lot of competition in District 11-12, which encompasses the city of St. Louis and has very few teams, but the squad always seems to be solid.

This is A-B's seventh straight year to advance to zone play and the first under coach Jim Newton, who previously directed A-B's Junior Legion squad.

A-B has a team batting average of .339, led by center fielder and leadoff man Brad Lehrmann, who will only be entering his junior year of high school. Lehrmann is batting .431 and leads the squad in stolen bases.

Shortstop Matt Tessrau is at .412 while right fielder Mark Strain is batting .366 with three homers, eight triples and 12 doubles. Other top hitters are third baseman Matt Salbiccio (.394) and designated hitter Eric Reckhamp (.348).

"We're not a power team, but we've got good, line-drive hitters who hit the gaps quite a bit," said Newton.

Leading the pitching staff is John Denando, who is 9-1. Tessrau follows at 6-2.

De Soto

De Soto, only a third-year Legion program, will be competing in its first zone tourney after finally ending the long District 13 reign of Festus, which had won the previous 18 district tournament titles.

"We're pretty excited," said De Soto coach Danny Grayham. "I don't know if it's sunk in yet."

De Soto has a .330 team batting average, led by outfielder Jeremy McFarland (.404), designated hitter Mike Graham (.403) and shortstop Gary Courtois (.390).

Third baseman Jeremy Jones (.333) has a team-leading five homers while center fielder Cody Terry (.333) has 16 steals in 17 attempts.

Graham heads up the mound corps at 5-0 with an 0.90 ERA. Perry Richardson is 3-3.

"Our hitting and defense have been real good," Grayham said. "Our pitching has just started to come around the last month. Overall we've been playing real good the last month."

Cape Girardeau

If you look at the statistics, Ford & Sons certainly appears to be better than its sub-.500 record.

Cape has a team batting average of .355, led by right fielder Todd Pennington (.470), left fielder Andy Sweet (.430) and first baseman Scott Reinagel (.400). Sweet had a huge district tourney, going 8-for-13.

Also well above .300 are catcher Greg Craft (.390), center fielder Adam Bertrand (.375), second baseman Shane Gibson (.370), third baseman Chris Bradshaw (.360) and first baseman Craig Ringwald (.358).

Gibson has seven homers and Pennington six while Bradshaw leads the way in RBIs with 52, followed by Gibson with 47, Pennington with 45 and Bertrand with 40.

The team's top two pitchers are Pennington (4-2, 2.00 ERA) and Craig Ringwald (5-2, 2.85 ERA).

"We've been pretty inconsistent this year, but I still feel like we have a pretty good ballclub if we play like we're capable," said Cape coach Ron Michel. "If things click for us, we can do well this week."