CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carl Junction broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run third inning and pulled away from Nevada with four runs scoring an inning later on the way to a 10-3 win to open Carthage’s Bill O’Dell Tournament on Monday at Carl Lewton Stadium.
After the Bulldogs (2-7) and Tigers (3-2) — who played each other two days prior in Nevada with Tigers winning 9-4 — each pushed across two runs in the first frame, Carl Junction broke the tie with two runs touching home with two outs in the third inning. The Bulldogs used a four-run fourth to pull away from the Tigers, adding insurance tallies in the fifth and sixth frames.
“We kind of break things up week by week, and we certainly haven’t gotten off to the start we wanted, but that is a good team,” Carl Junction coach Jake Stevenson said. “We saw a really good lefty arm (Case Sanderson) who is going to have a lot of big innings and probably have a lot of accolades at the end of the season. We knew it was going to be a challenge. I was really proud of our guys.”
ON THE MOUND
Shane Diskin earned the win after allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits, two walks and six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
“He is a competitor,” Stevenson said. “I thought he did a good job of settling in after trying to do a little too much in the first inning. He found his secondary pitch and was able to command it to keep them off balance. He controlled the game from there.”
Sanderson took the loss after allowing eight runs, two earned, on five hits, a walk and six strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
GAME ACTION
With runners at second and third and two outs in the inning, Carl Junction’s Drew Massey ripped a 3-2 pitch down the third-base line, with the ball kicking off the bag into left field to score Arlen Wakefield and Lucas Vanlanduit to make the score 4-2.
“Drew had a great two-strike approach,” Stevenson said. “It just takes one good swing to flip an at-bat around. If you just stick with an approach and stay confident, good things will happen.”
The Bulldogs pulled away from the Tigers an inning later, crossing the plate four times on three hits to extend the advantage to 8-2.
Diskin and Cole Wilson singled to left in back to back at-bats to start the inning before Diskin came around to score on a fielding error and Wilson scored on a wild pitch. Kyler Perry highlighted the inning with a two-out, two-run single to left on a 3-2 pitch to push the lead to six runs.
Carl Junction added single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings, while Nevada found the scoreboard once in the seventh.
AT THE PLATE
Perry had two hits, including a double, to go along with two RBI and two runs scored. Massey had two hits, two RBI and scored a run. Diskin had two hits and scored twice.
Eli Cheaney had three hits and two RBI for Nevada, while Drake Ketterman had two hits and scored two runs.
ON DECK
Nevada takes on Mount Vernon at 3:30 on Tuesday, while Carl Junction takes on Monett at 3:30 on Wednesday in continuation of the tournament.
