SEMO BANK CHECKS OUT AT STATE

Late-game drama offered no magic this time.

Cape Girardeau's Junior American Legion baseball team mastered a comeback win Thursday over Anheuser-Busch, then on Friday rallied to knock off Sedalia and later almost caught Jefferson City.

The Braves couldn't repeat the effort Saturday in a 5-3 loss to Anheuser-Busch, a defeat that eliminated host SEMO Bank from the Junior American Legion State Tournament.

"I'm really proud of this group of kids, because they really kept getting after it all day long," said Braves coach Chris Stanfield. "The effort was definitely there, so it's hard to complain with what they did."

SEMO Bank, a state tournament champion one year ago, ended its season at 48-14 after its second loss of the tournament. Anheuser-Busch, also with one loss, returned late Saturday and ?????????

The state tournament winner advances to the regional tournament in Woodward, Okla.

By the seventh inning of Saturday afternoon's game, SEMO Bank was primed to master its third comeback win of the tournament. Down 5-2, SEMO Bank saw Greg Craft single with two outs and went on to load the bases. A balk scored Tatum Kitchen and moved the Braves' game-tying runs to second and third.

But Anheuser-Busch pitcher John Denando caught Paul Dobbins' pop-up fly ball to squelch the rally.

"We knew they had their Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters coming up in the bottom of the seventh," said Anheuser-Busch manager Jim Newton, "and we knew what they were capable of. But that's what baseball's all about -- the best against the best.

"They've got some solid hitters, but this one went our way."

Anheuser-Busch kept its No. 1 pitcher -- Denando -- on the mound for the duration; he struck out seven, walked four and gave up 10 hits.

For the first time in four tournament games, SEMO Bank found itself ahead early, leading 2-0 through two innings. The Braves struck Denando for four hits in the first inning.

"John pitched five innings Thursday, so he came back with not even two days of rest," Newton said. "We just wanted to get three to five innings out of him and had our pitching staff lined up. But he was really in control of his pitches after the first inning."

Anheuser-Busch struck in the third when Justin Pennycook and Jose Rincon drove in runs. After the Braves replaced starter Todd Hanson with Gabe Wunderlich to open the fourth, Anheuser-Busch drove ahead for good, scoring first on a fielding error and adding two more on a wild pitch and another error.

The Braves had six errors to Anheuser-Busch's one.

"Errors have been the big bug all year long," Stanfield said. "It wasn't just a weekend thing. One time we played these guys, we had to battle our tails off to beat them and still made nine errors. Eventually the law of averages catches up with you, and that's what happened this weekend.

"The defensive end was a lot better for us Thursday when we played. They made mistakes on the bases and we made them pay for it. Today they got away with a couple. That got their momentum going and they rolled with it."

SEMO Bank beat the St. Louis team 10-5 Thursday after an early deficit. Anheuser-Busch answered with wins Friday over Lebanon and Sedalia to reach Saturday's elimination game.

Wunderlich (4-1) took the loss with four hits, one strikeout and three walks in a three-run, four-inning effort.

Mike Sullivan was 2-for-3, while Todd Pennington and Andy Sweet both were 2-for-4 for SEMO Bank. For Anheuser-Busch, Rincon and Derek Scellin were each 3-for-4.

SEMO Bank left 11 players on base, and on four occasions left runners at third in one-out and two-out situations.

"All weekend, we struggled to get that big two-out hit when it really counted," Stanfield said.