Central And North County Will Play For Sole Possession Of 1st Place In MAAA Large School Standings On KREI

(Park Hills) The winner of Tuesday’s MAAA baseball game between Central and North County will take sole possession of first place in the large school standings. We’ll have the call on AM-800 KREI Tuesday afternoon.

The Rebels, ranked 8th in the state in Class 4 per the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, are 10-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Half of Central’s games have come against teams either in the St. Louis area or down in Cape Girardeau, so coach Ronnie Calvird and his players are looking forward to facing some familiar faces.

The Rebels have given up just 16 runs in their 11 games. A big reason for that is their two lefty pitchers: junior Casen Murphy, last year’s Dream Team Player of the Year, and sophomore Lucas Whitehead. Calvird hasn’t yet decided who will get the ball, but he’s glad to have a tough decision to make.

The Raiders will trot out senior Jobe Smith. In his first 11.2 innings, Smith struck out 13 batters, only walked one, gave up eight hits and seven runs, just two earned. But in a 10-6 loss versus Hillsboro last week, Smith gave up nine runs, seven earned, and walked five batters over 3.2 innings of work. North County coach Jacob Donze is expecting a strong bounce-back game from Smith.

The Raiders are 3-4 overall but 2-0 in conference play. Central has four straight wins over North County. Donze is looking forward to matching up against one of the state’s best.

The Rebels and Raiders will square off at the Park Hills Sports Complex Tuesday afternoon. Coverage begins at 4:15 on KREI and MyMoInfo.com. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30.