Cape Senior Legion baseball wins two, advances to zone championship

Cape Girardeau Post 63 closer Drake Mills delivers a pitch Thursday, July 19, 2018, in the top of the seventh inning of a quarterfinal game against Eureka Post 177 during the Senior Legion Zone 4 Tournament at Yanks Field in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

Ben Matthews ~ Southeast Missourian

For the second straight year, the Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Post 63 Senior Legion baseball team rebounded from losing its opening game of the zone tournament and advanced to the championship.

Its opponent this year just happens to the same as last year too: Festus Post 253.

Cape (27-9) won two games Saturday, defeating host Ste. Genevieve Post 150 10-4 and then cruising past Eureka Post 177 10-0 in five innings to emerge from the loser’s bracket. Post 63 will need to beat Festus twice Sunday to claim the Zone 4 championship at Yanks’ Field in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

The two teams have played once this season with Cape winning 4-1 on June 3. Last year, Festus defeated Cape 13-9 to win the zone tournament. Post 63 hopes it will be a different outcome this time.

To get there, Cape’s bats got going. Against Post 150, Cape scored at least one run in the last six innings, including three in the third.

Joe Baker was 2-for-2 with three runs and a triple, and Luke Marcum was 2-for-4. Austin Dill lasted four innings to get the win.

In the second game of the day, Post 63 scored all 10 runs in the fourth and fifth innings to avenge Thursday’s quarterfinal loss to Eureka.

Trevor Haas went 2-for-3 with a double, and Cooper Crosnoe notched his second double of the day as Cape scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the proceedings early.

Drake Mills got the complete-game shutout, striking out six while giving up two hits and one walk.

Cape and Festus face off at 5 p.m. Sunday. A Cape win would force an if-necessary championship game at 7:30 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament. Festus, which hasn’t lot yet in the tournament, needs to win just one of the two games to claim the zone title.

Cape vs. Ste. Genevieve

WP — Austin Dill. LP —D. Morganthaler. 3B — Joe Baker (Ca). 2B — Cooper Crosnoe (Ca), Morganthaler (SG), J. Bieser (SG). Multiple hits — Cape: Baker 2-2, Luke Marcum 2-4. Ste. Genevieve: T. Blum 2-5.

Cape vs. Eureka

WP — Drake Mills. LP — Jacob Schneider. 2B — Cooper Crosnoe (CA), Trevor Haas (CA). Multiple hits — Cape: Haas 2-3.