Offense provides plenty of support for its starter

~ Garrett Stevens battled back to earn his second Legion win.

Garrett Stevens used some hefty run support to gut out a complete game in Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons' 14-8 win over Paducah in the opener of a doubleheader Wednesday at Capaha Field.

Stevens picked up his second win on the mound for Cape's American Legion team. The second game ended after deadline. Cape is 10-3, pending the outcome of the second game.

"I hadn't got to finish a game in a while," Stevens said. "I threw a couple of games in school ball, but never went past the fifth inning."

Paducah jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Stevens thanks to a two-out rally in the second inning. Stevens retired the first two batters of the inning and had opposing pitcher James Jones down 0-2 in the count before Jones slapped a pitch into right field.

Cape shortstop Mark Himmelberg fumbled a ground ball but recoverd it in time to get the out at first base during the third inning Wednesday at Capaha Field. (AARON EISENHAUER ~aeisenhauer@semissourian.com)

Following the Jones hit, Paducah scored a run on an error and two more on back-to-back hits.

"I had him 0-2 and threw an inside slider and hung it," Stevens said. "That started a rally and things went downhill. But we were able to battle back."

Cape was not down for long thanks to control problems from Jones. Jones hit David Sanders with one out in the bottom of the second and proceeded to walk one, hit three more batters and allow four hits as Ford & Sons sent 13 batters to the plate in a marathon eight-run second.

Post 63 tied the score 3-3 when Matt Hester was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded. The three runs came on just one hit. Mark Himmelberg followed and hit a grounder to second, but after tagging second base, the return throw to first pulled the first baseman off the bag and extended the inning.

Brad LaBruyere followed with a bases-clearing triple and Sanders ended the scoring with an RBI single.

Cape's Brad LaBruyere got hit in the back by a pitch from Paducah's James Jones, bringing in a run with the bases loaded, during the fifth inning Wednesday.

"Some of the guys got some big hits at the right time," Cape manager Dave Meyr said. "Brad had that triple in the corner. That was a big hit."

Staked to an 8-3 lead, Stevens was able to settle in. Paducah did touch up Stevens for two more runs in the third thanks to a leadoff walk and a triple, but a perfect fourth inning quickly put him back on track.

Stevens would allow three more runs over the final three innings, but responded well when Paducah threatened to cut deeper into the lead. Overall, Stevens allowed nine hits and walked two.

Behind the plate for Post 63 once again was Alex Shell. Stevens gave credit to Shell for his work on the mound.

"Alex, he's a great catcher," Stevens said. "He understands me and I understand him. He knows what I want to do and I have a clue what he wants me to do."

Of course, it doesn't hurt heading to the mound with leads of five and eight runs, as Stevens had Wednesday.

"It's a comfortable feeling to go out there with a cushion of three or four runs," Stevens said.

Paducah, which was missing about six players for the doubleheader, stuck with Jones despite the control problems. Jones was finally pulled after allowing 14 runs over five innings. Cape finished with 10 hits off Jones and benefited from six hit batsmen and three walks.

Sanders was 3-for-3 for Post 63 and Shell added three hits. LaBruyere drove in five runs with two hits.

"We did what we usually do," Meyr said. "We played good defense and hit the ball well."

The win was especially satisfying for Meyr and his coaching staff, which had not beaten Paducah in three seasons at the helm.

"We're just glad to beat them and get that first win against them," Meyr said. "We hadn't beaten them since we've been here the last three years. That's why it's such a big win for us."

The teams will hook up again tonight in a nine-inning contest at Paducah.