TOP-RANKED LAFAYETTE ELIMINATES CAPE CENTRAL

Cape Girardeau Central earned its share of respect, but Lafayette earned the big prize -- a berth in the Class 4A Final Four.

The Tigers put up a strong challenge in Monday afternoon's quarterfinal baseball game, but the visiting Lancers showed why they are the state's top-ranked 4A team by pulling away late for a convincing 8-3 victory.

Lafayette will take its 22-2 record to Columbia for Friday's state semifinals. Central ends its impressive season at 21-8.

"Cape hung in there. They're a very respectable team, which I knew they would be. I knew we wouldn't come down here and wax them," said Lafayette coach Rusty Ryan. "But our kids are very focused. They've got one objective, and that's Saturday night (when the state title game will be played)."

Said Central coach Steve Williams, "Lafayette is a real solid team. They made most of the plays and hit the ball better than us. They deserved to win the game.

"But I'm proud of my guys. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They battled today but we just fell short."

A one-out, second-inning home run by Josh McIntosh well over the left-field fence gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead and excited the large, pro-Central crowd at Tiger Field.

But Central would not score again until the sixth inning, by which time the Lancers had buit a 6-1 lead.

Lafayette, hitting better than .380 as a team on the season, did not exactly crush the baseball, but the Lancers made solid contact up and down the lineup. They finished with 12 hits as all nine players in the batting order had at least one hit.

Ryan Van Allen, the Lancers' sixth-place batter, paced Lafayette with a home run, a double and a single. He drove in three runs. Dave Freese added two hits.

"All our kids can hit the ball," Ryan said. "Van Allen has done that for us all year."

Central managed just six hits two by John Snider off Lafayette pitcher Jeff Gray, who has signed with Southwest Missouri State.

Gray struck out 12 and walked two as he improved his record to 8-0. The right-hander seemed to get stronger as the game went along.

"Jeff is tough," said Ryan. "He gets better later in the game. You have to get him early."

Jay Pierce suffered the loss, although he was effective over the first three innings before having to come out after facing one batter in the fourth. Williams said Pierce was suffering from migraine headaches and could not continue.

"Jay was having problems picking up the signs because of the migraines and we had to make a change," Williams said.

Pierce allowed two hits and was charged with two runs (one earned) in three-plus innings.

Justin Cook, who relieved Pierce with one on and nobody out in the fourth inning of a 1-1 game, allowed 10 hits and six runs as he hurled the final four frames. Cook fanned four and walked two.

After McIntosh's seventh homer of the season in the second inning gave Central a 1-0 lead, Lafayette tied it with an unearned run in the third. Ross Hardy and Freese both singled and Hardy continued home on an error.

The Lancers went up 3-1 in the fourth on two hits and two walks. Van Allen broke the deadlock with an RBI double and Robbie Gay added an RBI single.

Lafayette made it 6-1 in the sixth on four hits, with Matt Williams and Bryan Kurt delivering RBI singles.

Central finally broke through against Gray again in the bottom of the sixth as Mark Fisher singled, Justin Welker walked and, after both moved up on a wild pitch, T.J. Erlacker delivered a two-run single to make it 6-3.

But any hopes the Tigers had of a seventh-inning rally were pretty much dashed when Van Allen drilled a two-run homer well over the right-field fence in the top of the frame.

"We accomplished a lot of goals this year, even though we didn't accomplish this one (reaching the final four)," said Williams. "Any time you win over 20 games, win a district title, win a playoff game and get to host a quarterfinal game, you've got a lot to be proud of."