Joplin scored in every inning while hanging crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the third and fourth frames on the way to a 16-0 win over Neosho in five innings to open Central Ozark Conference play on a brutally cold Thursday afternoon at the JHS Athletic Complex that saw temperatures struggling to reach 40 degrees by game time.
“I thought we handled the (weather) conditions very well,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “It’s not as cold when you get out to a lead and you’re playing well. We really didn’t talk about it other than doing what you needed to do to be comfortable, but when it’s time to make a play, make a play. I thought they handled it well but, again, I thought getting out to that lead early helped a lot. It helps with your energy and helps you feel good about what is going on. It was a good job by our guys.”
Joplin (4-5) scored single tallies in the first two innings before taking advantage of four Neosho (5-2) errors on the way to an eight-run third inning to push the lead to 10-0. The Eagles continued to put the pressure on with the bats with six more runs touching home in the fourth inning en route to the win.
“I am taking the blame for this one,” first-year Neosho coach Bo Helsel said. “We just weren’t prepared enough. We have beaten some good teams this year, but we haven’t beaten some great COC teams like Joplin. We weren’t prepared. They were the better team today. … We have preached all year about throwing strikes and not striking out. We walked way too many today and had way too many strikeouts. That was our demise.”
ON THE MOUND
Ethan Guilford earned the complete-game, shutout win after blanking the Wildcats over five innings of work. He scattered three hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out three on 55 pitches for Joplin.
“It wasn’t an easy day to hit, but it also wasn’t an easy day to pitch,” Wolf said. “What I really appreciated about what Ethan did—we had some long innings on offense. He came right out and was right back in the zone to put pressure on them. That is not an easy thing to do on a day like today. He did a good job in the dugout of staying loose and locked in so that when he was out there, he was ready to go.”
Carter Fenske took the loss for Neosho after allowing five runs, four earned, on one hit, seven walks and a strikeout in two innings. Kael Smith, Carter Baslee and Reese Miller combined to allow 11 runs, nine earned, in two relief innings.
GAME ACTION
Joplin took the lead in the bottom of the first after Kyler Stokes drew a two-out walk before moving to third on a single by Guilford and scoring shortly after on a wild pitch with Justin McReynolds at the plate.
The Eagles added an insurance run in the bottom of the second inning after loading the bases with one out. Brady Mails brought home Tyler Duley, who was a courtesy runner for Tyler Schumann after drawing a leadoff walk in the inning, with an RBI fielder’s choice groundout.
Joplin blew the game open in the third inning, scoring eight times on four hits, aided by four Wildcat errors, to push the lead to 10-0.
Schumann started the scoring with a two-run single to center field with the bases loaded to make the score 4-0. Two unearned runs scored on a throwing error before an infield hit from Bodee Carlson brought a run home to extend the lead to seven runs. Mails singled home a run for his second RBI of the inning, McReynolds drew a bases-loaded walk and Layten Copher picked up an RBI on a groundout to wrap the scoring in the frame.
“We talked before the inning about wanting to put up a crooked number and trying to get this thing broken open a little bit,” Wolf said. “I thought we did a good job of grinding through at-bats, taking advantage of what they were giving us and not trying to do too much. We get a hit, get hit and do something a little different to speed them up a little bit and take advantage of some miscues in that inning to make it a really big inning. Credit to our guys for executing in situations”
The Eagles’ offense didn’t let up in the fourth inning, as Joplin plated six more runs to build a 16-run lead. Carlson had an RBI single before a run came home on a double by Jackson Queen. McReynolds singled up the middle to bring home the 15th run of the game. Another run scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the inning.
“We went into the inning with the mentality of not taking the foot off the pedal,” Wolf said. “We stayed locked in, and that’s the biggest thing. We just stayed with a good, consistent approach. In a game that’s not 10-0, but 2-1, that approach is going to work, too. That’s something I hope that we are starting to understand. Regardless of the score, that consistent approach is going to pay off for us more often than not.”
IN THE BOX
Carlson had two hits, two RBI and scored twice to lead Joplin at the plate. McReynolds went 1-for-1 with three walks, two RBI and two runs scored, Mails had a hit, scored a run and drove in two. Stokes had a hit and scored a team-high three runs.
Wyatt Shadwick, Austin Rodriguez and Baslee all had hits for Neosho.
ON DECK
Joplin hosts Springfield Catholic on Tuesday.
Neosho is at West Plains on Saturday.
