CAPAHAS CRUISE TO NBC TITLE CONTEST

Most people expected the McDowell Capahas to have little opposition during the 1998 National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional Tournament that they are hosting this weekend.

And if you look solely at the final scores, that has definitely been the case so far.

But Capahas manager Jess Bolen was quick to acknowledge that Saturday night's 12-2 win over the Goreville (Ill.) Diamondbacks in the winner's bracket final of the four-team event was certainly a lot more difficult that the score indicates.

McDowell and Goreville were locked in a highly competitive game through six innings before the Capahas broke things open late and wound up winning by way of the 10-run mercy rule. The contest was stopped after eight innings.

"This was actually a good game," said Bolen. "Goreville is coming on. They're a competitive team right now and they're going to get better. They're not far away from being a nice ballclub."

The defending champion Capahas, who had destroyed the Murphysboro (Ill.) Red Wings 21-4 in seven innings Friday night to open the tournament, have now moved into the championship round of the double-elimination tourney.

McDowell will face one of either three opponents at 5 p.m. today at Capaha Field.

Today's action will begin at 11 a.m. as Murphysboro and the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Braves square off in an elimination game.

Then at 2 p.m., Goreville will take on that 11 a.m. winner in the loser's bracket final, with the winner of that contest meeting the Capahas. If the Capahas lose, then one more game would be needed to decide the regional champion and the automatic berth in next month's NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

The Capahas improved to 19-7 by beating Goreville, which earlier in the day had knocked off Pine Bluff 9-3. The Diamondbacks are now 5-12.

Saturday's action, which was supposed to include three games, got under way about three hours late because of the heavy rain that fell in Cape Girardeau during the early afternoon.

"As far as getting games in, we did a lot better than I thought," Bolen said. "Truman Smith just always does a great job helping get this field ready when it rains. And Doc Yallaly, Gary Craft and Herb Nance, they were all out here helping. I can't say enough about what all those guys did."

Danny Simpher was the winning pitcher for the Capahas. He allowed six hits and one run in seven innings, with six strikeouts and four walks.

"I felt good," said Simpher. "It was close for the first five innings but then we started hitting the ball."

Lanson DeBrock hurled the final frame, allowing one hit and an unearned run while fanning two.

Julio Vega had four of McDowell's 15 hits. He also drove in three runs.

Darrick Smith contributed three hits while Lance Craft and Steve Kress both had two hits. Robert Kern hit the game's only home run.

Ryan Falimer led Goreville with two hits. He was also the losing pitcher, allowing 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) in seven innings.

The Capahas, the visiting team on the scoreboard after a coin flip, scored twice in the fifth to go ahead 4-1. That's the way things stood until the seventh, when McDowell scored three times. A five-run eighth broke things wide open.

National Baseball Congress

Mid-South Regional

At Capaha Field

Friday's Result

Capahas 21, Murphysboro 4 (7 inn.)

Saturday's Results

Goreville 9, Pine Bluff 3

Capahas 12, Goreville 2 (8 inn.)

Today's Schedule

11 a.m. -- Murphysboro vs. Pine Bluff

Loser's Bracket Final

2 p.m. -- Goreville vs. Murphysboro-Pine Bluff winner

Championship

5 p.m. -- Capahas vs. winner of loser's bracket final (another game will follow if Capahas lose)