KITCHEN SERVES A NO-HITTER

With two four-hit games this season, Cape Central senior Tatum Kitchen has shown the offensive potential to out-hit an entire team during the course of a game.

Tuesday against Notre Dame, Kitchen had only one hit -- a first-inning dribbler he was able to leg out for an infield single.

That weak roller proved to be one more hit than Kitchen would allow on the mound against Notre Dame as the hard-throwing right-hander no-hit the Bulldogs in a 4-1 Tiger victory.

Kitchen, coming into the game on a 10-for-11 tear at the plate, continued a six-game hitting streak as the Tigers improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the SEMO Conference. Notre Dame fell to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in league games.

Kitchen danced his way around eight walks by striking out 10 Bulldog batters. With the no-hitter in his sights late in the game, Kitchen struck out the side in the sixth inning and one more batter in a 1-2-3 seventh.

"It was like he finally got loose," said Cape Central coach Steve Williams, who said the blustery playing conditions made things rough on both teams.

"It was really tough out there," Williams said. "I would almost rather play in the rain or cold. This wind just wears you out."

Kitchen walked two batters in three of the first five innings, but was able to strand eight Bulldogs on the bases.

"None of those walks really put him in bind," said Williams. "If he'd walk a guy, we'd throw him out on the bases or get a pop-up to end the inning. He got some big strikeouts when he needed them and we made a couple (defensive) plays."

Kitchen was quick to single out a few teammates that helped him attain his first high school no-hitter. Sophomore shortstop Richard Harrison made a couple of nice plays and senior catcher Gregg Craft made the play of the game, according to Kitchen.

Leading 4-1 in the fifth inning, Notre Dame's Josh Eftink led off with a walk, but Craft gunned him down trying to steal second.

"The thing that got me going was when Craft threw the kid out at second," Kitchen said. "I thought that was a really big play. That really hurt them and turned the momentum back to us. (Craft's) got a cannon."

Three runs in the first inning, helped by three infield singles, got Central on top early. Kitchen's infield hit drove home the first run and Paul Dobbins roped a two-out drive to the outfield to score Kitchen with the third run.

"The (first inning) was really frustrating because if you give up three runs you'd like to see more than one ball hit out of the infield," said Notre Dame coach Gregg Muench.

Central added an unearned run in the fourth after Craft opened the inning with a single. Craft and Andy Sweet both had two of Central's 10 hits off Notre Dame starter Ryan LeGrand, who left the mound after five innings with back pain.

Notre Dame got an unearned run in the fourth inning, following two walks and an error.