THE LATEST LINE: ROBINSON SHOWS HE CAN PLAY

Former Southeast Missouri State University baseball star Kerry Robinson had been frustrated -- and you couldn't really blame him.

Even though Robinson, who completed his eligibility with the Indians in 1995, had put up several seasons worth of impressive numbers on the Class AAA level, no major-league team seemed willing to give him anything more than a sniff of the big time.

In his six professional seasons prior to this year, Robinson had appeared in just nine big-league games and he had received just four at-bats.

But Robinson plugged along, hoping that his chance would eventually come. Now it has -- sort of -- and he's making the most of it.

Reacquired this year by the Cardinals, the team that had originally drafted him in 1995, Robinson was hitting .325 at Class AAA Memphis before being called up early in the season when Mark McGwire went on the disabled list.

Robinson had played well for the Cardinals in spot duty -- primarily as a pinch-hitter -- when manager Tony La Russa finally gave him a pair of starts this past week.

And Robinson didn't disappoint. In his first major-league start Thursday at Milwaukee, he drove in his first big-league runs with a game-winning single. Then Friday at Cincinnati, the speedy outfielder came through with two hits and another RBI.

Entering Saturday's game at Cincinnati -- which he didn't start -- Robinson was 9-for-24 for an impressive .375 average as he continued to make a case for staying with the Cardinals even after McGwire comes back.

It's always nice to see a local product make good and it's particularly neat to see Kerry shine because he's a tremendous young man. And on a personal level, I got to know him well during his four years at SEMO and consider him a friend.

Here's hoping La Russa has the confidence in Robinson to keep plugging him into the regular lineup every now and then. So far, he's shown he's up to the challenge.

* Congratulations and good luck to the St. Vincent baseball team as the Indians have again qualified for the Class 1A Final Four.

The Indians are the defending 1A state champions and figure to have a solid chance of repeating.

Also kudos to Sikeston for making the 3A Final Four. The Bulldogs were fairly lightly regarded when the season began but they've had a remarkable year.

And even though Chaffee fell one game short in its bid to make the 2A Final Four, the Red Devils are to be commended for a spectacular season that saw them go 25-3 and beat most of the area's biggest schools.

* Congrats to all the area track athletes who placed in the 3A and 4A state meets held over the weekend.

Particularly impressive were Cape Central's Heather Jenkins, who was second in both the discus and shot put; Cape Central's Lainie Bohnsack, who was third in the high jump; and Perryville's Susan Miller, who was third in the 400, fourth in the 200 and ran a leg on the Lady Pirates' second-place 4x400 relay team.

* Are the Lakers awesome or what? The mockery they're making of their expected showdown with the Spurs has been a sight to behold.

LA is perfect in the NBA playoffs so far and I wouldn't bet against the Lakers finishing that way.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.