THE LATEST LINE: CAPAHA NBC VICTORY ONE FOR THE AGES

You can bet that Jess Bolen has taken part in plenty of thrilling games during his 31 seasons as the manager of Cape Girardeau's highest-level baseball team, the Kohlfeld Capahas.

But last Sunday's pulsating 11-10, 11-inning victory over St. Louis O.B. Clark in the championship game of the National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional Tournament at Capaha Field had Bolen thinking that this one should rank some place toward the top of the list.

"I'm sure there have been other games like that one, but just off the top of my head this one and the one the night before are about two of the best games I can remember us having," said an excited Bolen following the regional championship.

The day before that 11-inning victory, the Capahas rallied from an 8-1 deficit to stun O.B. Clark 16-8 in the winner's bracket final, setting the stage for Sunday's thriller.

Those two victories helped the Capahas regain the regional title that O.B. Clark had won the past two years and also played a big role in stamping this season as one of the best among the many great ones that Bolen's teams have had during his 31 years as manager.

As Bolen always likes to point out, the success of this year's Capahas will ultimately be judged by how they do in next month's NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

But as the regular-season home schedule came to a close Saturday against the Paducah (Ky.) Chiefs, area baseball fans can once again thank Bolen and his players for another highly entertaining summer of top-flight baseball.

* It didn't take new SEMO basketball coach Gary Garner long to make a big impression on the Indians' program.

In his first major public moves since being named as Ron Shumate's successor a little more than a month ago, Garner has hired what appears to be two extremely talented assistant coaches.

Joining Garner's first staff at SEMO will be Tom Schuberth, an assistant at Memphis the past five years, and Anthony Beane, a former All-American player at Three Rivers Community College who was an assistant at Southwest Missouri-West Plains Junior College last season.

Schuberth is regarded as an ace recruiter and only the fact head coach Larry Finch was forced out at Memphis after last season allowed Garner the chance to nab an assistant of that caliber.

Beane, a former all-stater at Bernie High who became a crowd favorite at Kansas State after his standout Three Rivers days, will bring a youthful, local flavor to Garner's staff.

* Cape Central product Talley Haines is having a strong summer season of play for the Rochester (Minn.) Honkers in the Northwoods League that features some of the nation's top collegiate players.

A righthander pitcher, Haines was selected for the league's all-star game that was played Saturday night. Through early last week, he was 4-0 with two saves in the league that uses only wood bats.

Haines, who played for SEMO the past two seasons, is transferring to NAIA power Freed-Hardeman in Tennessee for the coming school year.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian