The Willard Tigers have been one of the premier high school baseball programs in the state of Missouri in recent seasons with a state championship in Class 5 in 2021, a third-place finish in Class 5 last season, and a Final Four appearance in 2019.
They demonstrated why they are one of the premier programs in the state during their 10-0 win in six innings Wednesday over the host Carthage Tigers at historic Joe Becker Stadium.
Willard scored one run in the first, two each in the third and fourth, four in the fifth, and one in the sixth, while senior pitcher Cooper Wilken limited Carthage to four hits over six innings and his four-hit shutout also included seven strikeouts and no walks.
Willard simply did more of the small things that add up to big victories on Wednesday.
“Willard is a team that you can’t give a whole lot of free bases to and free outs,” Carthage coach Luke Bordewick said. “We tallied it, and we gave them 18 free bases and extra hitters. I thought (starting pitcher) Nolan (Brown) threw well for the most part and kept them off-balance early and had some contact. It’s those free ones that Willard will make you pay for it, plain and simple, and they definitely made us pay for it.
“They had a couple bangers in the middle of their lineup where if you walk a guy, like our first inning where we had a 3-0 on their two hole, he walks on a 3-2 pitch, and two passed balls he’s at third base with their three hole who’s a really good hitter. They score first and took momentum. We give them those free at-bats and it hurts us in the long run, that’s for sure.
“That’s part of baseball sometimes. There are some positives. They had a really good pitcher on the mound as well, who kept us off-balance with his fastball and his offspeed pitches. A couple guys saw him well, a couple guys didn’t, but it’s hard when you’re behind five runs in those early innings. It’s just tough to dig out of a hole against an arm like that.”
Willard’s Cooper Hampton opened the scoring in the first — he worked his way on with a walk and came around to score despite Carthage sophomore pitcher Nolan Brown striking out both Klayton Kiser and Owen Bushnell to retire the side.
Carthage’s Bradyn Tate reached on an error to start the Carthage first and Ty Perry delivered a single to right for the first Carthage hit of the game. Like the Willard first, Wilken struck out two hitters in a row to retire the side, but Carthage left two runners behind and failed to push across that first run unlike Willard in the top of the first.
Collin Spering and Landon Moore hit singles in the Willard third, and Spering scored on a Hampton RBI groundout and Moore on a Kiser RBI single.
Tate and Clay Kinder reached on infield singles in the Carthage third in dramatically different fashions. Tate legged one out the old-fashioned way, while Kinder took advantage of virtually the entire Willard infield being able to get a bead on a high pop-up behind the mound. Again, Wilken picked up the final two outs to retire the side and retain Carthage’s scoreless state.
Cameron Jennings led off the Willard fourth with a double to center and Kyden McMain reached on an error. Jennings and McMain scored on Drew Quinlan and Spering sacrifice flies, respectively, to give Willard a 5-0 lead.
Carthage sophomore center fielder Langston Morgan, after misjudging Jennings’ ball to start the fourth, made a sensational diving catch against Willard’s Kyle Beeman to end the fourth.
Kiser’s RBI triple, McMain’s RBI single, and Quinlan’s RBI single highlighted Willard’s four-run fifth, and Bushnell hit a RBI single in the sixth.
Carthage’s Brady Carlton singled leading off the fifth, but Willard turned a 5-4-3 double play against the subsequent batter and then Wilken retired the side and preserved the shutout by recording his seventh and final strikeout of the night.
Carthage dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-1 Central Ozark Conference, and the Tigers return to action Thursday in the 24th edition of the Mickey Mantle Classic with the late game against Miami (Okla.) at Joe Pollock Stadium in Miami.
Willard, ranked fourth in Class 5 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association in the latest rankings released Tuesday, improved to 7-5 overall and 1-0 COC.
