The Purdy Eagles earned a 15-0 run-rule win in five innings Wednesday over the host McAuley Catholic Warriors at historic Joe Becker Stadium.
Purdy scored five runs in the second, seven in the third, two in the fourth, and one in the fifth, while Purdy arms Travis Hughes and Alexis Aldaba kept McAuley Catholic predominantly in check with only three runners Warriors aboard over five innings.
The second inning again proved to be the start of the Warriors unraveling in a game at Joe Becker, following their seven runs allowed in the second inning April 4 in a 11-5 loss against their conference and crosstown rival College Heights.
“They’re a good team (Purdy),” McAuley Catholic coach Bryan Jones said. “Hughes did really well (pitching). We started out pretty good in the first inning and then we had the wheels fall off. Our second inning has been tough for us. We had a second inning (April 4) where we had three or four errors and similar with this inning (Wednesday). That’s not a team you’re going to give a lot of leeway to and be able to come back from, I think they’re one of the top three or four teams in the state at the 2A level. We had too many errors.
“We had some bright spots, but they played well and put the ball right in gaps. It was unfortunate, but we’ll just keep working and getting after it. Anyway, they have a great team over there.”
McAuley Catholic junior Chase Gardner had the Warriors’ only hit with a double to start the third, but he would be picked off between second and third to retire the side.
Senior infielder Joe Staton worked a leadoff walk in the first, followed by Michael Parrigon reaching on an error.
Hughes earned the win and he allowed one hit over four innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Aldaba retired the Warriors in order in the fifth.
Josh Brown led Purdy with three hits and two RBI, Trey Hughes added two hits and three runs scored, and Easten Goetz scored three runs for the Eagles.
“We didn’t hit the ball well, I thought, but we took advantage of some of the free baserunners that we got,” Purdy coach Joshua Hughes said. “We had some key hits and I thought we ran the bases really well. We got a great outing on the mound and defense behind them, so it was a formula for a good win.
“It’s one of those things with seven seniors and two juniors in the lineup every day, we’re varsity experienced, and we want to see guys that can pitch it well. I thought the McAuley kid (Tripp Miller) did a good job on the mound. We just got there to him in the second inning and then broke it open in the third.”
McAuley Catholic dropped to 3-7 overall and the Warriors return to action Friday on the road against Southwest. The Warriors will attempt to end a four-game losing streak and three of their losses have been in consecutive days to start this week against Jasper (9-8), Greenwood (11-1), and Purdy (15-0).
“It has been a rough week,” Jones said. “No conference or district games, so we’ve been playing teams that are bigger schools that can test our depth in a way that’s good for us. We’ve had a lot of guys have some opportunities to come up and get at-bats. We’ve got a freshman that’s come in and done really well and moved his way into the lineup. We’re still developing all our guys, and we’ve also had a lot of opportunities for guys to throw as well.”
Purdy, ranked second in Class 2 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, improved to 14-3 overall and the Eagles ran their winning streak to seven games.
The Eagles’ only losses this season have been against Class 3 school Strafford (10-9) and Class 4 schools Monett (11-7) and Seneca (8-7). Purdy also owns a 4-1 win early in the season against Class 6 Carthage.
“We knew going into the season that we’ve got seven starting pitchers that I feel like can pitch at the varsity level,” Coach Hughes said. “When you’ve got seven guys that can throw at the varsity level, we want to play five-six-seven games a week if we can. We frontloaded our schedule early. We’ve got one pitcher that’s hurt a little bit, but we’ve beat some good teams and then we’ve also lost games to some good teams, too.
“That was by design with our pitching staff and being an older group, juniors and seniors, we bumped that schedule up. We played Monett and Seneca and Carthage, and we were in that Neosho tournament (Roy B. Shaver Classic). We had a rainout, or we would have played Aurora and possibly Neosho, so we knew what it was going to be like going in and that just prepares us to get to that Class 2 playoff and eventually maybe a deep run in that playoff and hopefully the Final Four.”
