Semoball

Capahas take two of three to begin the 2020 summer league baseball season

Capahas' second baseman Justice Crosnoe (6) executes a force out during the opening game of a three-game series with Valmeyer at Jackson Indians Stadium. Caps shortstop Winston Welter (12) is in the background. The game was played Friday, June 26, 2020.
Ben Matthews ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

The Cape Girardeau Capahas were sailing toward a three-game season-opening sweep of the Valmeyer (Illinois) Lakers this weekend at Jackson Indians Stadium.

Friday, the Tom Bolen-managed squad posted a 2-0 shutout, holding the visitors to three hits.

Saturday, in the opening game of a doubleheader, the Capahas won going away, posting a 16-6 triumph, which featured a first for Bolen, in his fourth year as Caps’ skipper.

The Capahas committed six errors in the fourth inning.

“I expect errors,” said Bolen, “but not so many at once.”

By Mon-Clair League regulations, the first game was called after five innings when the Caps reached the 10-run “mercy rule” threshold.

All was going well in the second game of the twinbill, too, as the Capahas held a 3-0 advantage after five innings behind starter Tanner Hecht.

Bolen’s team looked poised to hang a goose egg on the Lakers.

Valmeyer had left the bases loaded in the third and fifth innings but exploded late.

“Hecht wanted to keep going after the fifth but he had reached his 80-pitch limit and so I pulled him,” said Bolen, who said he will not risk injury to a hurler so early in the campaign.

Caps’ lefthanded reliever Hunter Hancock was chased after pitching just one-third of the sixth frame, as he walked three, hit another batter, and allowed a base hit, as the visitors narrowed the deficit to 3-2.

Jake Jump, who joined the squad after Friday’s game, did not fare much better for the Capahas and took the loss, allowing five more runs on three consecutive Valmeyer singles as the Lakers took a 7-3 lead.

The Capahas answered in the home half of the sixth with four runs of their own, thanks to a two-run homer by centerfielder Trent Pobst and later a two-run RBI double by catcher Braedon Dobbs.

The game, tied 7-7 going into the decisive seventh inning, was blown open again – this time to stay – by the guests from Valmeyer.

Two walks, two singles and two doubles yielded four additional Lakers runs.

The 11-7 score held up as the Capahas went meekly in the home half of the seventh.

The Capahas (2-1) were scheduled to play a doubleheader late Sunday at Indians Stadium against Waterloo, another Mon-Clair League rival.

The Glidwell brothers, Trent and Brant, were slated to start each game of the twinbill for Cape Girardeau.

Late game boxscore (Saturday)

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WP — T. Davis. LP — J. Jump. HR — T. Pobst (Capahas). 3B — L. Tenkhoff (Capahas), 2B — E. Wallace, C. Jueffrs, M. Nappier, R. McCarthy (Valmeyer), B. Dobbs (Capahas). Multiple hits — Capahas: I. Gibbs 3-4, T. Pobst 2-4, B. Wright 2-4, H. Helvey 2-4. SB: I. Gibbs 3, T. Pobst 2. HBP: R. McCarthy (V) by H. Hancock (C), Balk: L. Gussar (V).

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