Riverdogs take Capahas to the wire in familiar finish

The fifth time wasn't the charm, either -- but just barely.

The Riverdogs lost to the Craftsman Union Capahas -- their Cape Girardeau rivals -- for the fifth straight time Friday, but the Capahas had to hold on for a tense 2-1 victory in the opening round of the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional at Capaha Field.

Craftsman Union (26-2)will play the Tradewater (Ky.) Pirates at 4 p.m. today in the winner's bracket final of the four-team, double-elimination event.

Tradewater (24-8-1) advanced by beating the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Braves 8-3 in Friday's opener.

Late Friday, the Riverdogs (7-12) eliminated the Braves. The Riverdogs will play the loser of the Capahas-Pirates contest at 8 p.m. today in an elimination game that will slice the tournament field to just two teams heading into Sunday's championship round.

"We were fortunate to win," Capahas manager Jess Bolen said. "I said before the tournament that the Riverdogs were a worthy opponent and they certainly were. They gave us all we wanted."

That was of little consolation to Riverdogs co-manager Robin Minner, whose squad has suffered three of its losses to the Capahas by a total of four runs.

"I'm getting tired of these games," Minner said. "We could have won, but it was a good ballgame."

There wasn't much difference between the squads as pitching dominated the wood-bat contest. All tournament games are being played with wood bats because of national NBC regulations.

Capahas starter Jason Chavez improved to 6-0. In 7 1/3 innings, he allowed five hits and an unearned run. The right-hander struck out 11 and walked two.

"My arm felt good today," Chavez said. "My slider was good, and the defense played well."

Riverdogs starter Steve Fowler (1-3) was almost as strong as Chavez: He gave up nine hits and two runs in going the nine-inning distance. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.

"Fowler pitched a great game," Minner said. "He really kept us in it."

One of the keys for the Capahas was Andy Davidson, who came up big to earn a save in his first appearance of the season for Craftsman Union.

Trailing 2-0, the Riverdogs scored in the bottom of the eighth inning and had runners on first and third with just one out. On came the 6-foot-8 Davidson, a hard-throwing right-hander. He escaped the jam with an infield popup and a strikeout, then worked around a one-out double in the ninth to close it out.

Davidson pitched three seasons for Southeast Missouri State University before transferring after the 2002 season to Union University, an NAIA school in Jackson, Tenn., where he completed his eligibility this year. He was playing for a team in Memphis this summer while taking classes at Union when he decided to join the Capahas.

"Jess had talked to me during the year and said I had a place to play if I wanted to," Davidson said. "I figured this is a chance for me to go to Wichita."

The winner of the Mid-South Regional earns a berth in the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

"I was glad to help out and glad I could get into a game right away," Davidson said.

Dave Lawson and Lance Seasor both had two of the Capahas' nine hits. Mark Fisher had two of the Riverdogs' six hits.

The Capahas broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning when Josh Eftink's two-out RBI single plated Lawson, who had singled. In the seventh, Tom Cigno's RBI single scored Wade Hansford, who had reached on a fielder's choice. Cigno was making his first Craftsman Union appearance of the season.

The Riverdogs countered with its run in the eighth when Andrew DePeder, who had singled, scored on an error, but that's when Davidson closed the door.

Bolen expects a rugged test today from the Tradewater Pirates, who handed Craftsman Union one of its losses when the squads split two meetings this year.

"They've got a good team, with quite a bit of talent," Bolen said. "We'll have to play well."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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