Joplin baseball suffers setbacks in twinbill
Apr. 11—Saturday's doubleheader for the Joplin baseball team was a pair of measuring stick games.
But after claiming a big 8-4 victory over Webb City on Thursday, the Eagles took a step back on Saturday afternoon at Joe Becker Stadium.
The Eagles (9-4) suffered a pair of setbacks, falling by scores of 6-5 to Willard and 4-1 to Springfield Catholic in game two.
"We knew we were playing two really good baseball teams," Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. "We had to do things well to give ourselves an opportunity to win. We did a good job in the first game of coming back. We were one swing away from having a chance to win the game. In the second game, it was just a couple of little mistakes that gave them an opportunity to win. (Catholic) is a very, disciplined and fundamental baseball team that took advantage of those things.
"To consistently beat good teams we have to consistently play hard and execute some things with a little bit more consistency."
Willard 6, Joplin 5
With one swing of the bat, the Tigers (10-5) took a 6-0 lead on the Eagles in the second inning.
Willard's Kade Bieller, a left-handed swinger, provided the fireworks by belting a drive to right field for a grand slam.
But Joplin refused to go down without a fight.
Kohl Cooper got the Eagles on the board with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Fielding Campbell in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 6-1. Joplin erupted for four runs on as many hits in the bottom of the sixth to cut the margin to one.
Alex Curry and Justin McReynolds opened the inning with singles, and Kirk Chandler knocked in Curry on an RBI single to center. Ethan Guilford cleared the bases with a two-run triple to left field, while Carson Wampler produced a sacrifice fly.
Joe Jasper reached third base on a passed ball with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Willard's Klayton Kiser slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts to end it.
"I'm proud of the effort to go and put up some runs there late, especially with those guys," Wolf said. "They are a really good baseball team. They play with a lot of intensity. It would have been easy to just lay down right there after the grand slam. We didn't. We kept fighting and put some guys on. We had a chance at the end."
Campbell provided a big boost out of the bullpen for the Eagles, throwing five shutout frames to allow Joplin to chip away at the Tigers' lead.
Alex Curry paced Joplin's nine-hit attack in game one with a three-hit performance.
Catholic 4, Joplin 1
The Fighting Irish (11-1) received a strong effort from their starter Collin Davis, who held the Eagles at bay over six innings. He allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out five to notch the victory.
Catholic drew first blood in the game when Ben Smith came across on a passed ball, giving Catholic a 1-0 lead in the second.
The Irish added three more tallies in the bottom of the fifth, taking a 4-0 lead. Hans Kaiser ripped an RBI single to score John David Bigler, and Jeremy Rader then came around to score on a fielding error.
Smith smashed an RBI double to the left field warning track to plate Caden Davis.
A RBI fielder's choice by Guilford in the top of the seventh accounted for Joplin's only run. McReynolds, who took over in relief, hurled four innings of two-run ball for the Eagles.
Wolf praised the efforts of Campbell and McReynolds to keep the team within striking distance in both games.
"I felt like Fielding and Justin both came in and threw really well," Wolf said. "Those guys are both starters. They both came in and threw really well, gave us a chance. That is all you can ask of them in that position. They held them where they are at and allowed us to chip away, get some runs on the board."
Joplin plays at Harrisonville at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.