TIGERS EXECUTE PIRATES IN FINALE

In a baseball season filled with more ups and downs than a game of `Chutes and Ladders' the Cape Central Tigers completed their regular season with a 9-4 win over Perryville.

Tatum Kitchen (3-4) pitched six innings for the win as the Tigers improved to 13-12. Perryville, scheduled to play at Fredericktown today, dropped to 12-11.

"This was a good win and we needed a good win," Central coach Steve Williams said. "Our pitching was exceptional. Tatum did a super job and Jeff Michel came in and shut the door."

Kitchen allowed only four hits and struck out eight. Michel pitched the final inning, striking out two, for his first save of the year.

With the Tigers leading 7-0, Kitchen suffered some control problems in the fifth that got the Pirates back in the game.

Kitchen walked five batters, including four in a row, as Perryville scored four times in the inning on only one hit, an RBI-single by Joel Heuring. Kitchen also threw four wild pitches in the inning.

But the hard-throwing righthander got out of a bases loaded jam in the inning with his seventh strikeout to escape with the Tigers still on top 7-3.

Central got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth with a big hit coming from third baseman Chris Bradshaw.

Catcher Greg Craft opened the inning by beating out an infield single. With one out, Bradshaw scored Craft's courtesy runner Brian Beard on a triple down the right-field line. Bradshaw later scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Shane Gibson to make the score 9-4.

Perryville scored another unearned run in the sixth to close to 9-5 when Jason Blechle doubled home Josh Moll. But Michel relieved in the seventh, allowing no runners, to close out the win.

Central seemed ready to end the game via the 10-run rule after jumping to a 5-0 lead after two innings. The Tigers' three graduating seniors, Derek Hiett, Shane Gibson and Jeff Beasley, all played a big part in the quick lead.

"Our three seniors batted 1-2-3 (in the lineup) and got us on the board," said Williams. "That's how you like to start."

The three seniors manufactured a 1-0 lead in the first when Hiett led off with a single and took second when his hard-hit ball bounced off the shortstop's leg and into the outfield.

Gibson singled Hiett to third base and Beasley brought Hiett home with sacrifice fly to put the Tigers on top 1-0.

The Tigers, who have struggled fundamentally at times this season, have been able to advance runners into scoring position as of late.

"It's good we're starting to do those things at this point in the season," Williams said.

Four runs on four hits in the second inning put the Tigers well ahead. After a double by Craft and a RBI-groundout by Craig Ringwald, Bradshaw lofted a solo home run to right-center field to make the score 3-0.

The top of the order brought home two more runs on a RBI double by Gibson and an RBI single by Beasley. Gibson and Beasley both had two hits in their final regular-season game at Central.