Plaza Tire rolls past Valmeyer in opener

There were plenty of rough spots for the Plaza Tire Capahas Friday night, but they still had little trouble winning their season opener.

Plaza Tire banged out 16 hits while taking advantage of 10 walks, three hit batters and four errors to roll past the Valmeyer (Ill.) Lakers 19-5 at Capaha Field. The contest was stopped after seven innings by the 10-run rule.

The same squads will square off again today in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Capaha Field. The Lakers fell to 4-5.

"We kicked the ball around. I expected that," said Capahas manager Jess Bolen, whose squad made five errors that led to four unearned runs by the Lakers. "But we hit the ball good. I think we need to plug in a little more talent, but we can have a good team."

Said second baseman Lance Seasor, one of only four returning position players for the Capahas, "It was a little rough, like you expect in a first game. We need to work out the kinks, but I think we're going to have a good team."

Seasor had two hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs.

Eric Horstman, Southeast Missouri State University's leading hitter this season, had three hits and two RBIs in his Capahas debut. Josh Eftink, a returning player and a Notre Dame High School product, also delivered three hits and two RBIs, as did Bryan Kurt, another first-year Capaha from Southeast.

Wade Walter, a former Belmont (Tenn.) University star, doubled twice and added two RBIs in his Capaha debut.

Jason Chavez, last year's ace pitcher, picked up right where he left off. Chavez, a Central High School graduate coming off a standout season at Southern Illinois University, went all seven innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run. He struck out nine and walked two.

"I thought Jason looked good," Bolen said. "We didn't play very good defense behind him, but he's just a solid pitcher."

Brett Crawford, Jeff Riebeling and Carl Heuer all had two hits for the Lakers. Crawford delivered two RBIs.

The Capahas jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. Valmeyer made things interesting for a while and trailed just 6-5 entering the six inning.

But the Capahas exploded for six runs in the sixth to go up 12-5, then a seven-run seventh ended things early.

"It wasn't real pretty, but it's good to get the season started," Bolen said.

Friday's contest was the start of a busy opening weekend for the Capahas. After today's home doubleheader against Valmeyer, Plaza Tire hosts Springfield (Ill.) Sunday in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

Kyle Perry and Matt Stroup, two more returning pitchers from last season, are scheduled to start today's games.