Cape slams Sikeston

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sikeston second baseman Garrett Limbaugh applies the tag on Cape's Blake Slattery.

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Senior American Legion Post 114 baseball team saw a two-run lead evaporate with one swing of the bat as Cape Legion won a District 14 game 8-4 on Tuesday at VFW Stadium.

Sikeston (16-14, 3-4 district) was leading 4-2 when Cape's Brooks Osburn launched a grand slam over the left field fence in the top of the fourth inning to erase the deficit.

Sikeston never could recover as Cape tacked on insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

"It just didn't work out -- the big grand slam hurt us," said Sikeston coach Todd Baker. "That took the fire out of us. Give them credit. They've got a full squad. As you can see we're short. We're playing with low numbers and we don't have the pitching. But we battled. One pitch was the difference in that game."

Osburn, Cape's No. 9 hitter in the lineup, has been the hot bat lately for the team according to Post 63 coach David Meyr.

Sikeston shortstop Austin Williams fields a ground ball.

"When he hit that home run that brought us up over the top," said Cape coach David Meyr. "That was a big hit for him. A real big hit. He's been hitting it well lately. He's seeing the ball and he's hitting the ball. That kind of took it out of them. I told the guys that if we can get up then we can win this game."

The lead was more than enough for Cape hurler Mark Himmelberg, who threw all seven innings for the win. He allowed 10 hits and four runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and three walks.

"Mark settled down after the first couple innings and he threw real well after that," said Meyr. "He found his comfort zone with the plate and threw strikes. That's what we needed."

With Sikeston's roster down to 11 players on Tuesday, the team still put up a strong effort, turning two double plays and collecting 10 hits.

But Sikeston's pitching staff has been worn thin lately. Post 114 starter Josh Stevens was the recipient of pitching on short rest on Tuesday.

The right-hander allowed eight runs (five earned) off 11 hits with three strikeouts and four walks.

"They hit (Stevens) hard but it's tough right now," said Baker. "We've had games canceled and we've had to rearrange some things because of the district schedule. That's part of it, but it's thrown our pitching out of whack. We've got some kids out of town and we just couldn't do a whole lot. We're limited on what we could do, but we battled. We had solid defense up the middle. We turned some nice double plays. All year, those two (Austin Williams and Garrett Limbaugh) have been solid up the middle."

Sikeston took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-run double by Stevens. Cape tied the game in the top of the second, but Sikeston scored two more runs in the third to lead 4-2.

Osburn hit his grand slam in the following half-inning.

"We've still got a few games left and we're going to give it our best," said Baker.

Stevens went 3-4 with two doubles. Tyler Scott went 2-4. Limbaugh (double, run), Seth Baker (single, RBI), Josh Pierce (single) and Gerald Winfield (single) also contributed offensively.

Cody Tellor led Cape (28-13, 6-1 district) with three hits. Osburn, Himmelberg and Blake Slattery each had two hits.

Sikeston will host Dunklin County tomorrow at 6 p.m. in a District 14 game.

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