TIGERS USES BATS, ARMS LEATHER TO DEFEAT ND

For Cape Girardeau Central High's baseball team, strong pitching, solid defense and clutch hitting was a perfect formula for beating its city rival Monday afternoon.

The Tigers excelled in those areas as they held off the visiting Notre Dame Bulldogs 4-3 in an exciting, well-played game.

Central improved to 4-3 while Notre Dame, which placed second in the Class 2A state tournament last season and is ranked No. 1 this year, fell to 6-2.

"I thought it was a very good game," said Central coach Steve Williams. "Notre Dame has one of the best teams in Missouri, not just Southeast Missouri. They've got an excellent ballclub. We knew that going in.

"We hadn't beaten them in a couple of years, so we put some emphasis on this. It's not the end of the season for them, but we played well and it's a big win."

About the only difference between the teams Monday was Central's ability to hit in the clutch.

All four of the TIgers' runs came with two outs and Central capitalized on most of its chances, stranding just four runners. On the other hand, Notre Dame stranded eight runners and once failed to score despite having the bases loaded with one out.

"It was a good game. The pitchers threw strikes and both defenses played well," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett. "They made some plays and they got the big, timely hits with two outs."

All three pitchers who saw action had solid performances, particularly Central starter and winner Justin Welker, who carried a 4-0 shutout into the sixth inning.

Williams decided to replace Welker with one on and one out in the sixth and Justin Cook came in to eventually nail down the victory, although not without a few anxious moments.

Notre Dame got two unearned runs in the sixth to pull within 4-2 and then made it 4-3 in the seventh on John O'Rourke's two-out home run. But the Bulldogs could get no closer.

Welker, who escaped several jams, allowed five hits and an unearned run in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three.

"I'm real proud of Justin," Williams said. "He's worked hard on his pitching. He's always been able to hit the ball, but we needed him on the mound this year and he's come through."

Cook was charged with two hits and one earned run in 1 2/3 innings.

"He came in and did a nice job," said Williams of Cook.

Notre Dame ace Brian Obermann went all six innings, allowing eight hits while fanning three and walking none.

"He's getting better every game, but when he missed, they made him pay," said Graviett of Obermann.

Five of Central's eight hits went for extra bases, including four doubles. Zac Fidler homered while Josh McIntosh doubled twice and Mark Fisher also had two hits, including a double.

Todd Friend had two of Notre Dame's seven hits.

Fidler's two-out homer in the third broke a scoreless tie. In the fourth, McIntosh led off with a double and scored on a two-out double by Dusty Barrows. Richard Harrison delivered a single to score courtesy runner Chad Jones, making it 3-0.

The Tigers went up 4-0 in the fifth as Welker got a two-out single and scored on a McIntosh double.

While Central was thriving with two outs, Notre Dame was having trouble capitalizing on its many chances.

In the second, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out, but the Tigers were able to turn a nifty 5-2-3 double play as third baseman John Snider fielded a grounder, fired to catcher Barrows for a force at home and Barrows threw to first baseman Fisher.

Notre Dame also left two runners stranded in the third and fifth. In the fifth, Central got another nice double play, going from Welker to shortstop Harrison to Fisher.

Then in the sixth, Snider impressively snared a wicked line drive off the bat of Wes Steele, which likely prevented even more damage than the two runs the Bulldogs would go on to score that inning.

In addition, Barrows did his best imitation of St. Louis Blues goalie Roman Turek as he kept the Bulldogs from taking extra bases by blocking at least eight pitches in the dirt.

"We made a couple of errors (late), but we made some plays," said Williams.