RAIDERS GRIDIRON RECRUIT SHUTS OUT TIGERS AT HOME

Cape Girardeau Central High baseball coach Steve Williams said the Tigers should do nothing but tip their caps to North County's Dan Smith.

The Raiders' big righthander simply overmatched the Tigers Friday afternoon as Central suffered a 3-0 home-field setback.

North County improved to 9-1 while Central fell to 5-8.

Smith, a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder who is headed to the University of Miami on a football scholarship -- he plays tight end -- also throws a pretty mean baseball.

The hard-throwing Smith dominated Central as he allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out 11 in pitching all seven innings.

"He was just better than us today," said an impressed Williams. "He's the best pitcher we've seen by far and he might be the best we'll see all year.

"North County is the best team we've played so far. They're solid and he (Smith) is really tough."

Smith, who might also try to play baseball at Miami, had the Tigers on their heels all afternoon with an impressive fastball and also a sharp-breaking curve.

"He's a good thrower," said North County coach Steve Pasternak. "He can wing it pretty good. He throws hard and has good stuff."

Central pitcher Craig Ringwald wasn't too shabby himself. The lefthander limited the Raiders to only four hits while fanning eight and walking one over the full seven frames. Only one of the three runs Ringwald allowed was earned.

"Craig was awfully good today," Williams said. "I thought he matched him (Smith) pitch for pitch."

The Tigers' only hits were doubles by Ross Bennett in the first and Ringwald in the third. Both players were stranded as Central left four runners on base over the first four innings, then had only one runner the rest of the way.

"I told the kids that we had men in scoring position in the first, third and fourth innings and each time he struck us out with two outs," said Williams. "He made the big pitches when he had to.

"In a game like that, it was so important to get that first run."

North County did all the day's scoring in the top of the sixth inning. Terry Reed led off with a single and stole second with two outs. he scored on Jeremy Howell's single to left and Howell continued all the way to third when the ball was booted for an error.

Howell scored on a wild pitch and Josh Hulsey -- who had walked earlier -- came home on another wild pitch.

Central, which has had an alarmingly high number of errors this season, committed five Friday, but four of them didn't cost the Tigers. Central made several impressive defensive plays, including a couple of dazzling stops by third baseman Tatum Kitchen.

"We won't beat anybody with five errors," said Williams. "But we did play better today, believe it or not. We made some good plays."

Said Pasternak, "This is the first time we've played Cape. They have a nice team and we'll try to make it a yearly deal."

The Raiders made it a sweep by also winning the JV game 13-3. Aaron Wolfe had two hits for Central while Josh McIntosh drove in two runs.

Central will be right back in action today with a 1 p.m. game at Calloway County, Ky.