McDonald County managed to escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth inning, but the Mustangs couldn't repeat the feat in the bottom of the seventh as the Joplin Eagles pulled out a 2-1 win Saturday in the opening round of the Missouri Class 5 District 12 Baseball Tournament at Joplin High School.
Joplin started its winning rally off of Mustangs starter Jaime Hanke when pitcher Tyler McGrew reached on his third hit of the day, a controversial infield single. McGrew hit a soft liner to shortstop Dagan Stites on the first pitch of the inning. Stites fielded the ball, but it was ruled a trap and McGrew was safe at first when Stites' throw to first baseman Jarrett Sanny was too late.
"Obviously, I thought Dagan caught the ball," said coach Nick Martin. "You could tell by the way he reacted, Dagan thought he caught it, but the two guys that mattered said it was a trap."
Dylan Parker followed with a double down the leftfield line, putting runners on second and third. After an intentional walk to Reese Hicks, Spencer Swanson singled in the winning run.
Hanke allowed two runs on 12 hits while striking out four and walking three.
"Hanke pitched a good game," Martin said. "He gave us chance to win. McGrew is a good pitcher. We had some chances but couldn't come up with the big hit."
Joplin took a 1-0 lead in the second on Parker's home run. McDonald County tied the game in the fifth on a two-out single by Stites and Emitt Dalton's RBI double.
McDonald County used a pair of strong defensive plays to preserve the tie in the bottom half of the inning.
McGrew singled and Parker walked before Hicks reached on a bunt to load the bases with no outs. Swanson then hit a ground ball to Stites who threw to Dalton at the plate for a force out. Dillon Johnson followed with a fly ball to Mason Hendrix in medium-deep right field. Hendrix made the catch and came up throwing to nail Parker at the plate on a bang-bang play.
"Our defense played well," Martin said. "The fly ball to Mason was not that shallow. He made a heck of a throw right on the plate."
McGrew held the Mustangs to just four hits. In addition to Stites and Dalton, Brock Burnett and Hendrix each had one hit.
McDonald County finishes the season with a 14-14 record in the final game for seven seniors.
"We had a good year, but of course we wished it had been better," Martin said. "When our seniors started as freshmen, a .500 year was our goal. They have raised the bar in their four years."
Lost to graduation for the 2017 Mustangs are Dalton, Burnett, Hendrix, Sanny, Stites, Seth Shockley, and Donovan Taylor.
Sports on 05/19/2016