SEMO CONFERENCE BASEBALL TEAMS WANT TO KNOW THE SCORE

Athletic directors of schools in the SEMO baseball conference will meet this morning in an attempt to resolve a dispute whether some games played this year will count as conference games.

Most of the conference coaches, after meeting prior to the season, were under the assumption that only the second game between conference teams would count as league games. At the coaches' preseason meeting, which was attended by every conference coach except Poplar Bluff's, conference schedules were distributed.

But this past Saturday, it was revealed that the athletic directors of the same schools had agreed that the first games would count as written in the bylaws of the conference. For several years, the conference schools agreed that the second game would count, but in a meeting this past summer, the ADs changed the by-laws because several teams had conference games in the last week of the season and if a game was rained out it would be almost impossible to reschedule.

Apparently, there was a communication gap between athletic directors and coaches and now no team knows for sure what its conference record is.

"When ADs make decisions, we have to let the coaches know," said Cape Central athletic director Terry Kitchen. "But when coaches have meetings and make decisions, they need to let the ADs know. The communications just has to get better and it works both ways."

The decision which is reached today will no doubt cause some controversy.

Since many games were played under the assumption that they were not conference games, some games were approached differently.

The most obvious case of this was the Notre Dame-Sikeston game last Thursday.

Notre Dame and Sikeston were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the preseason conference poll by the coaches, but Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett started his No. 4 pitcher last Thursday against Sikeston since it wasn't a conference game, holding his No. 2 pitcher for a weekend tournament.

"We probably would've gone with Mark (Ostendorf) if we would've known," said Graviett. "He's a senior, plus we just wanted to give (sophomore) Scott Eftink some varsity experience. A worst-case scenario, we would've gone with Josh Eftink," the team's No. 3 pitcher.

Sikeston, which threw one of its top two pitchers, beat Notre Dame 13-6 that day, but with Ostendorf on the mound, Notre Dame beat Sikeston last Saturday, 6-3.

All the confusion began with the introduction of three new teams -- Chaffee, Kelly and Scott City -- into the conference. When it was a five-team league, every team played home-and-home and both games counted.

Now the three new teams play each of the old five schools once and those games will count regardless of the athletic directors' decision, but each of the five original members still play each other twice, thus the mess.

Apparently, a phone vote has already been conducted and the original ruling was that the first games will count. At least four coaches were under the impression that the ruling had already been made and the first games counted.

Two of those coaches said that the vote ended in a tie and Sikeston athletic director Charlie Vickery, as president of the conference, broke the tie with his ruling that the bylaws should stand. But Vickery said Tuesday evening that "we're going to meet at 11 a.m. (today) and work on something that's fair for everyone. We're trying to do the best thing and meet face-to-face. There was just some confusion and we're going to try to clear it up."

Of all the schools, Sikeston would benefit most from a first-game-counts scenario.

Sikeston would be 5-0 in conference and every other contender would have at least two losses.

Chaffee, whose conference games would count regardless, would benefit somewhat from a first-game-counts ruling.

"That puts us right back into second place," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell. "Central, Notre Dame and Jackson all have two losses so we're right back in the thick of things."

Cape Central would suffer the worst if the first games counted. If the first games count, the Tigers will be 3-2 in conference play. If they don't count, they'll be 1-0.

The controversy goes deeper than records, however.

As Graviett pointed out, his team has just one conference game left -- that being with Scott City.

If the athletic directors rule that the first games count, then conference action is nearly over.

If they rule that the second games count, then the conference race will play out for the entire season.

"The most disappointing thing about it would be that the conference is over," said Graviett. "We won't have anything to play for until May."

"I understand the concern with weather," said Cape Central coach Steve Williams, "but by the same token, I don't thing anyone wants to finish the conference in the first two weeks in April."