FORD & SONS SPLITS PAIR IN PADUCAH TOURNAMENT

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team split its two games Saturday in the Paducah (Ky.) Tournament, a round-robin affair featuring five squads.

Ford & Sons, now 12-6 on the season, routed Anheuser-Busch 15-1 in a five-inning, run-rule game, then lost to Jefferson City 4-2.

Cape will have two more games today as the tournament concludes, playing Knoxville (Tenn.) at 11 a.m. and host Paducah at 4 p.m.

"We played hard," said Ford & Sons manager Ron Michel. "We really had a good game in the opener. Then we ran into a pretty good pitcher against Jefferson City."

Craig Ringwald pitched all five innings against A-B, allowing just two hits. He struck out six and walked none.

"Ringwald was very sharp," said Michel.

Ford & Sons had 15 hits against A-B, led by Nathan McGuire, who went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs. Jeff Lappe went 3-for-3 with three RBIs while Todd Pennington and Ross Bennett both added two hits.

Pennington and McGuire each hit two-run homers in the first inning as Cape jumped on top early.

Against Jefferson City, Lappe allowed seven hits but all four runs were unearned, thanks to three big Cape errors.

"Lappe pitched really well but the errors hurt," Michel said.

Bennett and Pennington both had two of Cape's seven hits. Bennett drove in both runs.