TIGERS, 'DOGS HOPE TO REPEAT DISTRICT TITLES

Cape Girardeau's two high schools pulled off a district baseball sweep last year as Central prevailed in Class 4A and Notre Dame captured the local Class 2A title.

Both teams have high hopes again this season, as do several other area squads, including Jackson, Scott City and Chaffee.

The 1997 prep baseball season gets under way this week around the area, with two interesting matchups set to take place Monday as Central hosts Chaffee and Jackson entertains Notre Dame.

Scott City begins its campaign Thursday at home against Portageville.

Following is a rundown of how some of the local teams stack up entering the '97 season:

Cape Central

With a host of sophomores and juniors seeing regular action last year, the Tigers surprised some people by going 15-9 and winning the 4A district title. Central then lost to Vianney in the sectional round.

"We had a young team last year and they got a lot of good experience by winning the district," said Central coach Steve Williams.

Among the varsity regulars back from last season are seniors Jeff Beasley (first base) and Shane Gibson (shortstop), who batted .385 and .333, respectively, as juniors.

Senior outfielder Chris Pobst saw limited varsity action last season while the team's fourth senior, infielder Derek Hiett, was not on the squad a year ago.

The bulk of Central's roster is made up of juniors. Among the 12 juniors who saw major action last season are pitcher/third baseman Tatum Kitchen, pitcher/outfielder Ross Bennett and catcher Chris Bradshaw.

Bradshaw batted .338 last year while Bennett hit .294 and Kitchen .254.

Kitchen, Bennett and fellow returning juniors Craig Ringwald and Gabe Wunderlich figure to head up the pitching staff, with other hurlers being juniors Paul Dobbins, Michael Minner and Jeff Michel, none of whom saw varsity action last season.

Kitchen went 3-1 last year while Bennett was only 1-3 but had a solid 3.35 earned-run average as they were two of the mound mainstays in '96. Ringwald and Wunderlich also performed well in limited varsity action.

"I feel good about our pitching," Williams said. "Our top four all saw varsity action last year. They're making good progress and I feel like they'll keep us in a lot of games."

Other returning juniors who figure to help out after seeing limited playing time last year are second baseman Adam Bertrand and outfielder Greg Craft.

One of the highlights of the regular season for the Tigers will be their participation in the prestigious USA Classic Tournament in at the U.S. Olympic Complex in Millington, Tenn. The tourney, featuring several nationally-ranked teams, begins Wednesday.

"That will be the toughest tournament we've ever been in," said Williams. "We're really excited about it."

Notre Dame

The Bulldogs are coming off a banner season that saw them go 19-4 and win SEMO Conference and 2A district titles before losing in the sectional round to Crystal City.

Gone off that squad are 10 seniors, but Notre Dame does return seven seniors, including several that saw extensive action last year.

"It should be interesting," said Notre Dame coach Gregg Muench. "I'm looking forward to seeing some of these kids who didn't have to lead last year be the leaders this year. I think they're ready for it.

"We feel like we'll be very competitive in every game we've got. We play a tough schedule, but we feel like we'll at least be in the games."

Leading the way should be two seniors who were regulars last season, pitcher/infielder Nathan McGuire and pitcher/outfielder Chris Canfield.

McGuire batted .315 and went 1-1 with a 2.80 ERA as a junior while Canfield hit .270 and went 0-1 with an 0.81 ERA.

"Nathan and Chris were both successful on the mound last year, but they didn't get to pitch that much with Lanson DeBrock and Ben LeGrand getting most of the work," Muench said. "We look for them to do really well this year."

Other seniors who saw some action last year are catcher Ben Gosche, infielders Danny Wittenborn and Kyle Elfrink and outfielder Trent Summers. Summers batted .318 as a junior while Gosche hit .462 in limited action.

The seventh senior is infielder Dirk Dirnberger, who played as a sophomore but was not on the squad last season.

Juniors figuring to contribute are infielder Bryan Drury, pitcher/outfielder Keith Hamm and pitcher Ryan LeGrand.

Muench is also extremely high on pitcher/infielder Josh Eftink, a freshman who figures to be in the starting lineup from the beginning.

"We're looking forward to the season," said Muench. "We play Jackson, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff the first week, so that's always a tough way to start."

Jackson

After serving the last five years as a Jackson assistant, Sam Sides takes over the head coaching spot for the Indians. He welcomes a squad that lost heavily to graduation.

"We're coming along but we're unproven," said Sides. "We've basically got a whole new team. We'll just have to wait and see how we do."

The Indians graduated seven position regulars from last year's 10-9 team but they do return two of their top four pitchers from that squad in seniors Chris Leimer and Josh Adams.

"We'll be counting on them a lot," said Sides, who will also have juniors Justin Keen and Jason Goben on the mound. "I don't think we'll devastate anybody with our pitching, but I think we'll be consistent and able to stay in games."

Jackson's only two position regulars back are Adams at third base and junior Travis Stevens at shortstop. Stevens had a big sophomore season, hitting about .380.

Sides will also be counting on the likes of infielders Keen, senior Mike Gross and junior Zane McClard, junior catcher Justin Gladish and outfielders Goben, junior Brock Frederick and sophomore Todd Wessel.

"I'm looking forward to it," Sides said of his first season as the Indians' head coach. "I've worked with these guys so I'm pretty familiar with them."

Scott City

Stephen O'Brien enters his second season as the Rams' coach with quite a bit of experience back from last year's squad that went 10-8.

"We've got quite a few kids back who gained a lot of experience last year," said O'Brien. "And the good thing about it is, they're wanting to work hard every day. You don't have to push them, they push themselves. That's what you like to see."

The Rams, who lost just two seniors last year, figure to be led by several returning seniors, including infielders Kirt Burger and Jeremy Enderle, catcher Keith Anderson, outfielder Joey Jacobs and pitchers Justin Braun and Jason Landis.

Junior Tim Lowery returns after being one of the main pitchers last year while another key junior will be returning outfielder Howie Stubenrauch.

"Our pitching will hopefully be pretty good," O'Brien said. "If they come around they could be. A couple of them throw the ball pretty hard."

Chaffee

The Red Devils have been one of the area's better small-school programs over the years but coach Bruce Qualls says that could be sorely tested this season.

Chaffee, which went 12-7 last year, has only 15 players on the roster and all but five of them are sophomores and freshmen.

"That's way under the number that we've ever had. We'll struggle to play a JV schedule with only 15 kids," said Qualls. "We knew all along that those two classes (seniors and juniors) were low in numbers. It's just one of those things."

Qualls said that five sophomores and a freshman will likely be starters.

The three seniors on the squad, all of them returning regulars, are pitcher/outfielder Jeremy Yarbro, infielder Jeremy Chapman and outfielder Grant Biler.

Chaffee's lone two juniors are returning regular Josh Hanlon, a pitcher/infielder, and infielder David Little, who saw limited action last year.

Among the promising sophomores are catcher Jason Harrell, who started much of his freshman year and hit over .300; infielder Dusty Leggett, who played some on the varsity last year; outfielder Jeremy Vandeven, who also saw some varsity action a year ago; infielder Matt Graham; and pitcher/outfielder Phillip Blevins.

A freshman, Tommy Stidham, will open the season as the starting shortstop.

"We'll be very, very young and very untested. It's going to be a challenging year," said Qualls. "We'll have to make all the routine plays and make some great plays just to have a chance to be competitive."

On the up side, Qualls said, "A lot of guys will get a lot of experience for the future. And this is a good group. They really work hard."