VIANNEY GETS BEST OF CENTRAL

ST. LOUIS -- From the start of Thursday's Missouri Class 4A sectional, the Vianney Golden Griffins made it perfectly clear to the Cape Girardeau Central High Tigers the calendar was forwarded to 1996.

The field was the same one on which the Tigers nipped the Griffins 3-2 in 1994, a win which propelled Cape Central toward the 4A state crown.

In Thursday's rematch, Vianney upped the run ante. The Griffins belted a grand slam and hit a three-run homer, two of six Griffin hits. They also took advantage of three Tiger errors and a hit batsman to score 10 runs. What made the numbers all the more deadly, they pertained solely to the Griffin first inning.

Vianney ultimately hung on for a 13-10 victory to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round.

Cape Central's Jeff Beasley, who had two of the Tigers' eight hits, said the Tigers were in shock in the first inning.

"I've never experienced anything like that before," said Beasley. "It felt good to finally get out of it. They really hit the ball. We hadn't faced a team that could hit the ball like that all year."

Central, which finished at 15-9, had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning on a Ben Arbeiter RBI single.

Vianney (15-7) then pitched camp in the batter's box, sending 12 batters to the plate. On the leadoff batter, left-fielder Jeff Lappe turned in a stellar back-to-the-plate catch near the fence. But the Tiger infield sandwiched two errors around a hit batsman to load the bases. Jason Ingenbohs proceeded to induce shock when he blasted a 2-2 delivery from Korey King over the left-field fence for a 4-1 lead.

"I was basically trying to put it in play," said Ingenbohs of his fourth home run. "I knew a base hit would get two runs home at least. I felt he had to come to me with something. I've been swinging pretty good lately, but I didn't think I could do that."

Central coach Steve Williams was aware Vianney had a strong hitting team entering the game. Vianney finished with 12 hits off four Tiger pitchers.

"We were trying to just get through it," said Williams of the first inning. "Once we got the grand slam out of the way we were trying to get out all right."

Six more runs proved deflating. A double, an error and three singles pushed the lead to 7-1. Griffin right-fielder Phil Warren capped the inning with a three-run homer, chasing King in favor of Craig Ringwald.

"Usually we have something to counteract it, but it seemed like nothing would stop it,"` said Arbeiter.

Ringwald retired the only batter he faced in the inning, but Vianney held a 10-1 lead, courtesy of 10 unearned runs. Two more unearned runs scored in the second as the Griffin lead grew to 12-1. Both runs scored when a routine throw to the pitcher went past Ringwald and out of play. Arbeiter came on and shut down Vianney until the fifth.

The 12-1 deficit marked a low-water point for Central.

"I'm proud of the guys," said Arbeiter. "We stuck together and battled back and got in a position to win. If anything, we showed a little pride."

Central mounted a comeback partly based on wildness by Vianney's pitchers. Starter Steve Grimes struggled to throw strikes from the start. He walked seven batters and gave up two hits in 2 2-3 innings. In all, three Griffin pitchers combined for 10 walks.

Grimes walked the first three batters in the third, an inning in which Central scored five times. Five Tigers walked in the inning and four came around to score. The Tigers stranded the bases loaded in the inning as Dave Erbar relieved and wiggled out of a one-out jam.

Central moved to within 12-7 in the fifth on a Corey Campbell RBI single. But Central, which again loaded the bases with no outs, saw a bigger inning squelched when Vianney's Warren lunged for and caught a drive by Ross Bennett to deep left field, stranding Tigers at second and third.

Central closed to 13-10 in the seventh as Beasley and Lappe opened with singles and Chris Pobst homered to left field.

But left-hander Derek Engelstad closed the door on the Tiger comeback.

Central, which had 58 errors on the season to Vianney's 18, had five errors Thursday to the Griffins' one.

"You have to give them credit," said Williams. "They have a good team and they made the plays when they had to, and we didn't. And that's been our problem all year. It showed up today and really hurt us."