Semoball

Cape Senior Legion baseball makes quick work of Sikeston for 11-1 league victory

Cape Girardeau Post 63's Cole Emmenderfer, left, and Brenden Wilkens celebrate after scoring on a hit by Layne Robinson against the Sikeston Silver Sox during the second inning of Game 1 of a doubleheader Wednesday at Capaha Field.
Fred Lynch

The Senior Legion baseball district tournament is still weeks away, but the key to Cape Girardeau's success in the postseason -- pitching -- was on display Wednesday.

Trent Unterreiner wasn't at his best, according to his coach, and still tossed five innings of one-run ball as Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 cruised to an 11-1 six-inning win over the visiting Sikeston Silver Sox in District 14 action at Capaha Field.

With the win, Cape improved to 16-7 and 4-1 in the league with three league games remaining and the district tournament scheduled to start July 11.

Cape Girardeau Post 63 shortstop Luke Marcum throws to first base after Sikeston's Trace Wheetley was forced out during the second inning of the first game Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at Capaha Field.
Fred Lynch

"We feel really good about our pitching staff," Post 63 coach Josh Meyer said. "That's really our catalyst of our team. Our guys have been excellent on the mound all year. We play good enough defense. If we swing it, we'll be tough to beat. Now if we don't, we'll put a lot of pressure on ourselves."

Cape started fast Wednesday, scoring seven runs in the first two innings, taking advantage of four Sikeston errors to score three unearned runs.

Unterreiner opened the scoring with a two-RBI double, and two more runs scored later in the first on a dropped fly ball in left field.

Post 63 strung together four consecutive hits to plate three runs to start the second. Layne Robinson drove in two runs with a single, and Cooper Crosnoe scored on an errant catcher pickoff throw.

Robinson went 3-for-4 with a double, and Crosnoe was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.

Sikeston (0-6 league) got on the board in the fifth thanks to three walks and a groundout.

Unterreiner gave up two hits and four walks while striking out four.

"He was pretty solid," Meyer said. "We've seen a better Trent, but he did the job for us, got us the win."

Cape has now had a different pitcher pick up the win in each of its four district victories, with Unterreiner joining Crosnoe, Austin Dill and Bryan McNeely.

Post 63 got the run back in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a Luke Marcum RBI single, and ended the game with three runs in the sixth, invoking the 10-run mercy rule.

Reid James, who replaced Unterreiner on the mound and pitched a scoreless sixth, produced the game-ending RBI single. Robinson and Trevor Haas also had run-scoring base hits in the inning.

Cape scored in four of the six innings, but had a mid-game lull in the third and fourth, generating two total base runners.

"We talked about, 'We gotta keep the throttle down.' We let up there," Meyer said. "That's something I don't like to see, but of course, seven runs in the first two innings is great, and we'll take that any day."

Owen Sheehan took the loss for Sikeston, giving up 10 runs (seven earned) in six innings.

The Silver Sox return to action at 6 p.m. Saturday, hitting the road to face Paducah, Kentucky.

Game 2

James continued his solid pitching, tossing a no-hitter as Post 63 swept the doubleheader with a 5-0 five-inning victory, which doesn't count in the district standings.

Cole Emmenderfer went 3-for-3 and Dill was 2-for-3 with a double as Cape scored all five runs in the first three innings.

GAME 1

Sikeston000010--126
Cape430013--11110

WP -- Trent Unterreiner. LP -- Owen Sheehan. 2B -- Cooper Crosnoe (C), Layne Robinson (C), Unterreiner (C). Multiple hits -- Cape: Crosnoe 2-3, Robinson 3-4.

GAME 2

Sikeston00000--002
Cape2120X--570

WP -- Reid James. LP -- Hayden Alcorn. 2B -- Noah Arnzen (C), Austin Dill (C). Multiple hits -- Cape: Cole Emmenderfer 3-3, Dill 2-3.

Editor's note: After this story's publication, the Southeast Missourian was notified that Cape Post 63 doesn't plan to play in the Paragould (Ark.) Tournament. The story has been updated to reflect this change.

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