After dropping its first two games in pool play on June 2 at the Carl Junction 18U Baseball Tournament, McDonald County bounced back with wins over Webb City and Cassville on June 3 to finish the tournament with a 2-2 record.
Grant Cooper pitched McDonald County to a 3-2 win over Webb City while the offense rallied with three runs late in the game to pull out the win.
McDonald County pounded out 11 hits, including three each from Izak Johnson and Dylan Teague. Trey Black added a pair of singles while Ty Shaver, Oakley Roessler and Joe Brown all had one hit each.
McDonald County followed with a 15-0 win over Cassville behind the shutout pitching of Tyler Sellers.
Johnson had four hits to finish the doubleheader with seven hits and a walk in eight at-bats. Shaver added three singles while Teague and Black had two hits and Roessler and Reece Cooper had one.
McDonald County opened the tournament with a 5-3 loss to Joplin and an 11-1 loss to Hillcrest on June 2.
Against Joplin, Charlie Moore took the loss, allowing five runs on just four hits while striking out six. Joplin took advantage of two hit batters, a walk and a wild pitch to score two runs in the second on just one hit.
After McDonald County tied the game with three runs in the top of the sixth, Joplin scored the winning runs in the bottom half of the inning on a walk, a single, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
McDonald County's three runs came on a hit by Shaver, an RBI double by Teague, an error and singles by Roessler and Brown. Shaver finished with two hits to lead McDonald County.
Hillcrest scored six runs in the first inning off of Johnson and cruised to an 11-1 win.
McDonald County's only run of the game came in the fourth inning on singles by Micah Burkholder, Moore and Johnson. Burkholder and Moore each finished with two hits to lead McDonald County.
The split of the four tournament games gives McDonald County a 3-5 record heading into its June 7 game at Carl Junction. McDonald County returned home on June 7 to face Seneca before traveling to Exeter on June 8. All regular season dates are doubleheaders and begin at 5:30 p.m.
Joplin
McDonald County dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Joplin on May 31 at MCHS.
In the opener, Joplin scored two runs in the fifth inning to claim a 3-2 win. Cooper took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings. Moore worked the final two innings without allowing a base runner.
McDonald County scored its only two runs in the second on a pair of walks, Shaver's infield single and an error. Shaver's hit was the only hit for McDonald County.
In the nightcap, Joplin claimed a 6-0 win in five innings. Boston Dowd started and went the first four innings, allowing three runs on three hits. Raygan Bradley worked the fifth, giving up three runs on a walk, one hit and two errors.
Dowd, Roessler and Teague all had one hit to lead McDonald County.
Sports on 06/08/2017