STEELE BARRIER STANDS IN PATH OF RED DEVILS

Experience in close games could be the Devils' advocate today.

Close games and close calls have been the norm in the Red Devils' eight-game winning streak.

But Chaffee, using its formula of solid defense and great pitching, has had a knack for winning the close ones.

Chaffee coach Brian Horrell and South Pemiscot coach Bobby McCulloch both expect another tight one today as the Red Devils take on South Pemiscot at 5 p.m. in Steele, Mo., in a Class 2A Sectional game, with the winner advancing to Saturday's state quarterfinals.

"I think the last four or five games have been close and have come down to the late innings," Horrell said. "One thing that helps us get through is our eight seniors. They realize it's a seven-inning game and they're not quick to push the panic button. It's going to be tough once again."

One team has beaten Chaffee (24-2) in the Devils' last 25 games.

South Pemiscot (14-12) was that team.

The Bulldogs came from five runs down to knock off Chaffee 9-8 in eight innings on May 1. The loss ended the Devils' winning streak at 16 games.

"I think our kids will use that as motivation," Horrell said. "I hope we don't get too pumped up, though. We need to approach this game like we have all year and relax and score a few runs."

Chaffee, ranked second in the state, will see the same pitcher it saw on May 1, McCulloch said. Cory Martin, a 6-foot-2 senior, will take the mound. Martin is 7-1 this season.

"He was pretty effective, but we put the ball in play," Horrell said.

South Pemiscot, a 10-7 winner over Senath-Hornersville in the District 2 championship game, will face a different hurler, Matt Stroup.

Stroup, though roughed up a bit against Kelly in Chaffee's 5-4 district championship win, has been almost untouchable all season.

Stroup is 11-1 with a 0.85 earned-run average. He's struck out 110 batters in 74 innings of work.

"I've heard a lot about him," McCulloch said.

Like Chaffee, South Pemiscot has built up quite a tradition on the baseball diamond. The Bulldogs have won district championships in five of the last seven years. Six of their 12 losses this year have come to out-of-state teams.

"We've played some awfully good people," McCulloch said. "On any given day we can play with about anybody. We're a lot better club now than we were earlier in the year."

South Pemiscot leadoff batter Robert Farmer, the shortstop, is the Bulldogs' best hitter. He's batting .472, though he missed much of the year with an injury.

Martin and Jason House both have six home runs.

"This is probably as good of a hitting club as we've had in a while," McCulloch said. "The top of the order is pretty good. The bottom half is young, but they've been getting on base."

Chaffee has a stout top half of the batting order as well. Prior to their 15-inning victory over Sikeston Saturday, the Red Devils had four players batting .430 or better, including leadoff hitter Jeremy Lynn at .482. Lynn leads the team in average, hits (41), triples (3), runs (38), home runs (3) and stolen bases (18).

G.P. Glueck, the cleanup hitter and returning all-state outfielder, has driven home a whopping 34 runs this year.

The winner of the Chaffee-South Pemiscot sectional game will take on the winner of Clearwater vs. West County in Saturday's quarterfinals. If Chaffee wins, it will host the quarterfinal contest.