Ford & Sons avenges two early losses with win in zone opener

ST. LOUIS -- The Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team lost twice to Ballwin during the regular season, so the squad knew it faced a formidable challenge Thursday in the opening round of the Zone 4 Tournament.

But Ballwin proved to be little more than a speed bump for Cape in a 13-1 victory at Heine Meine Field. The game was stopped after eight innings by the 10-run rule.

Cape (26-14) advances to today's 8:30 p.m. winner's bracket final of the five-team, double-elimination event.

Ford & Sons' opponent will be the winner of today's 1 p.m. game featuring Anheiser Busch (24-6) against either Festus (19-12) or Oakville (20-20). Festus and Oakville squared off late Thursday night in the other first-round contest that was in progress at press time.

"It's a great way to start the tournament," Cape manager Tom Reinagel said. "Ballwin has a good team, but we knew if we played well we'd have a good chance. We didn't play flawless, although we didn't have any errors, but we did a lot of good things."

Reinagel planned to start Wayne Essner on the mound, but after consultation with his coaching staff he changed his mind and went with John Thies, arguably the area's premier high school pitcher this year.

Thies, somewhat inconsistent this summer, came through by going the eight-inning distance. He allowed five hits, struck out seven, walked five and hit two batters.

"John allowed a single to start the game and then hit two batters, so the bases were loaded with nobody out," Reinagel said. "But he got an infield pop fly and then struck out the next two batters. That was a big lift for us.

"John was shaky at times, but he got out of some trouble and did a good job."

Cape banged out 11 hits, led by Matt Wulfers with a 4-for-5 performance. He doubled twice, tripled and drove in four runs. Patrick Slattery was 3-for-3 with two walks, and Tyler Schlosser added two hits.

Ford & Sons broke on top with three runs in the top of the second inning and never looked back.

Ballwin (30-13) scored in the fourth inning, but Cape answered in the sixth to go up 4-1. Wulfers' three-run triple keyed a five-run seventh that broke the game open. Cape rounded out the scoring with a four-run eighth.

Reinagel said either Wayne Essner or Lee Essner -- who pitched a shutout in last week's district championship game -- will start tonight. A win would put Cape in Saturday night's championship game.

"We're in a pretty good position right now, and we just have to keep playing well," Reinagel said.