A two-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning forced in the winning run to give the Joplin Eagles a 4-3 victory Saturday over the McDonald County Mustangs at the new all-turf baseball field at Joplin High School.
McDonald County dropped its opening game of the season earlier in the day, falling 18-9 to Hollister. Joplin defeated Hollister 9-5 in the first game of the round-robin doubleheader for the three teams.
Against Joplin, Mason Hendrix worked the first seven innings for the Mustangs, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits. Victor Payne took the loss, allowing one run on a one hit.
"Mason did a great job keeping their hitters off balance," said coach Nick Martin. "We needed him to eat up some innings after the first game. He did that and put us in a position to win the game."
Joplin scored a run in the first after Hendrix hit Chris Leonardi to open the game.
The Mustangs came back in the top of the second with a pair of runs. Jake Wood singled to lead off the inning before Jarrett Sanny was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Jake Wilkie sacrificed to set up RBI singles by Brock Burnett and Payne.
Joplin tied the game in the fourth on a leadoff triple by Johnny Maturino and wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth. The Eagles took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on Leonardi's two-out single and stolen base and infield single and error on a ground ball by Zack Gaudette.
The Mustangs bounced back in the top of the sixth to tie the game. Jamie Hanke lead off the inning with a walk. A base hit by Wood and a walk to Sanny loaded the bases before Hanke scored the tying run on a double play.
Gaudette led off the bottom of the eighth against Payne with a single. After he was scarified to second, the Mustangs chose to intentionally walk Maturino. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third before Payne got the second out of the inning on a ground out, but the sophomore right-hander walked the next two hitters to force in the winning run.
"Overall, I thought our hitters did a good job all day at the plate," Martin said. "I was really pleased with how the kids responded after playing poorly in the first game. We have some things to work on, but we are going to be all right."
Wood had three hits to lead the Mustangs. Hanke, Burnett, Payne and Donovan Taylor had one each.
Hollister
Hollister used a pair of big innings, scoring five runs in the third and six in the fifth, to hand McDonald County an 18-9 loss in the Mustangs' opening game of the season.
D.J. Madewell took the loss, allowing seven runs, five earned, on six hits in three innings. Dillion Lance went an inning, Seth Shockley went a third of an inning, Lakota Rose worked two innings and Wood got the final two outs of the game.
McDonald County scored a run in the first on a walk to Emitt Dalton, a stolen base by pinch runner Josh Kinser and a wild pitch.
Hollister scored two runs in the top of the second on two hits and a hit batter before the Mustangs put up a four-spot in the bottom of the inning. Dagan Stites and Sanny singled to start the uprising. Taylor drew a one-out walk to load the bases. After Dalton popped out, Wilkie drew a walk to force in a run. A wild pitch scored another and then Hanke drove in a pair of runs with a single.
But Hollister answered in the top of their third with five runs on three hits, a walk, a hit batter and two errors.
Payne doubled and scored in the fourth, but Hollister broke the game open in the top of the fifth, scoring six runs on just two hits. Four walks and and another hit batter keyed the big inning.
McDonald County's final three runs came in the fifth. Burnett and Sanny had singles while Payne, Taylor and Dalton had RBIs.
"We had five kids (Taylor, Payne, Sanny, Madewell and Burnett) playing their first varsity game," Martin said. "Donovan did some good things at the plate and battled all day. Jarrett Sanny swung the bat well and so did Victor and Brock. I thought Lakota Rose came in and threw well. He did a good job. He deserves it because he has worked hard to get better."
Burnett, Stites, Sanny and Taylor each finished with a pair of hits while Dalton, Hanke, Wood and Payne had one.
McDonald County was scheduled to play Gravette, Ark., at Arvest Stadium in Springdale, Ark., on March 24 before heading to Harrison, Ark., for a tournament on March 27-28. The Mustangs' home opener is set for March 31 against Seneca.
Sports on 03/26/2015