TIGERS DRILL BEARCATS AT 'BOOT CAMP'

A baseball game turned into boot camp for Dexter Tuesday at Tiger Field.

The Bearcats turned into Errorcats, committing nine miscues which led to 10 unearned runs as Cape Central needed just five innings to dispose of Dexter 15-3.

The Tigers improved to 12-5 on the season and kept putting the pressure on Dexter's defense by avoiding strikeouts.

Every Central starter reached base at least once and five of the Tigers' hits went for extra bases.

"For the most part everybody swung the bat pretty well today ," said Central coach Steve Williams. "They had a couple of boo-boos and we were able to take advantage of some of them which led to the final score."

Dexter (5-12) got off to a good start, plating three runs off Central starter Joe Hamilton in the top of the first.

Bearcat starter Cory Jackson then promptly retired the first two Cape Central batters on six pitches.

Then the Bearcats unraveled.

Justin Welker, who scored four runs and had two hits, hit a seemingly harmless grounder to second which was booted.

Jackson then walked Josh McIntosh and Dusty Barrows doubled in two runs. T.J. Erlacker then reached when a pop fly to right was dropped, scoring Barrows. Rob Carr then singled home Erlacker to put Central up 4-3. When all was finished in the first, seven straight batters reached with two outs in the inning.

"We got out to a 3-0 lead and got the first two outs in the first then bang, we booted a grounder on a play that just has to me made and the next thing you know it's 3-3," said Dexter coach Brian Becker. "It's been a tough year for us. We played like this at the beginning of the year and we thought we were turning the corner but we had a setback today. We've got some youngsters and a lot of them are learning as they go, but at this point in the season, when plays need to be made, they need to be made."

Central scored four earned runs in the second inning when the area's leader in doubles, Zac Fidler, hit his ninth two-bagger of the season and later scored on an error when Dexter mishandled an infield hit by Welker. McIntosh ripped a double to left to score Welker and Barrows backed that up with an RBI double of his own. Barrows later scored on a groundout off the bat of T.J. Erlacker.

The Tigers put the game out of reach in the third, scoring five runs. Mark Fisher led off the inning with a line-drive homer to leftcenter for the only earned run of the inning. A walk, three errors and two more walks later, Central led 13-3.

Erlacker hit a two-run single in the fourth to account for the final margin. Erlacker and Barrows each had a team-high three RBIs, while Welker and Barrows each had two hits.

Hamilton, meanwhile, settled down on the mound after the first inning for Central. He faced the minimum in the second, third and fourth innings to pick up the win.

In all, he gave up three runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out three.

"I was happy for Joe," said Williams. "Joe had struggled a little bit this year and in the first inning he was a little rough. The first inning he got behind people because he was trying to nibble. Then he got ahead and they had to hit his pitch. And that's what Joe has to do."

Jackson suffered the loss for Dexter though none of the four runs he allowed were earned in his 2/3 innings of work. He faced nine batters and gave up two hits and walked two.