NOTRE DAME ROLLS INTO DISTRICT SEMIS

CHAFFEE -- Notre Dame will play Chaffee and Kelly will play Woodland today in the highly competitive Class 2A, District 2 baseball semifinals.

Second-seeded Notre Dame knocked off No. 7 Bloomfield 10-0 in five innings and No. 3 Chaffee posted a 6-0 win over No. 6 East Prairie.

John O'Rourke fanned eight and held Bloomfield to three hits and three walks as the Bulldogs improved to 21-3 on the season.

Notre Dame scattered nine hits, including a solo homer by Josh Eftink in the first inning which sparked a four-run, two-out rally.

The home run was Eftink's ninth of the season and was one of two hits on the day for Notre Dame's slugger.

Todd Friend and Scott Reinagel also had two hits apiece.

Notre Dame assistant coach Jeff Graviett, who was recently named next year's head coach at Notre Dame, said "We didn't play real well. John wasn't real sharp, but he hadn't thrown in a couple of weeks so that was to be expected."

Notre will play Chaffee at 5 p.m. today. Kelly and Woodland will meet at 3.

Chaffee 6, East Prairie 0

The Red Devils scored two in the third, three in the sixth and four in the seventh to improve to 16-4.

Tommy Stidham (7-1) threw a three-hit shutout, striking out four and walking one in six innings of work.

Jason Harrell went 2-for-4 and was the only Chaffee player with more than one hit.

Matt Stroup provided a 2-run double and Travis Hanback had an RBI triple. Stidham had a hit, an RBI and three stolen bases.

"We were kind of sluggish but their pitcher didn't throw too bad," said Chaffee coach Bruce Qualls, who earned his 100th career win. "We've been off a week of game-play and it showed today."

Today, Chaffee will send its ace, Matt Stroup, to the hill, while Notre Dame will go with perhaps its best pitcher Brian Obermann.

"Runs may be hard to come by on both sides," Qualls said.

Notre Dame beat Chaffee 10-1 earlier this season in a game where the Red Devils collapsed in the late innings.

Kelly, the district's No. 1 seed, advanced to the semfinals by virtue of a bye and No. 5 Woodland knocked off No. 4 Scott City 9-2 Tuesday before the game was called due to inclement weather.

Class 1A, District 3

SOUTH IRON -- Leopold, the No. 3 seed, downed No. 6 South Iron 12-2 in five innings.

Ashton James homered and doubled in going 2-for-3. Scott VanGennip also provided two hits.

Jason VandeVen recorded the win in three innings, striking out seven and allowing no hits. Donnie Landewee pitched in relief.

Class 1A, District 2

ADVANCE -- After the severe storm wiped out Monday's final two first-round games, those contests could also not be played Tuesday because the Advance field was still in poor shape.

Those last two opening-round games will be played today in Oran instead of Advance. Third-seeded Oak Ridge faces Valle at 2 p.m. and top-seeded Advance meets No. 9 Scott County Central at 4 p.m.

Already advancing through the first round were No. 2 Oran (17-1 over Delta) and No. 4 St. Vincent (14-0 over Bell City).

After today, the remainder of the tournament will be played in Advance. The semifinals will be at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday.