Webb City scored seven runs in the second inning to take command and added insurance in the fourth and three more runs in the sixth on the way to a 10-0 win over Lakes Community (Illinois) on Thursday.
Instead of playing the game at Chuck Barnes Field at Webb City High School, the Cardinals (4-3) and Eagles battled at Warren Turner Field on the campus of Missouri Southern. The reason? Lakes Community coach Chris Hoffman was a member of the 2016 MSSU baseball team (hitting .375 at the plate with 14 doubles, three triples, six home runs, 42 RBI and 59 runs scored as a two-way player) and played for Lions coach Bryce Darnell, who is the father of Webb City senior Cy Darnell.
“It is kind of fun to play teams you don’t really know and play against different guys,” Webb City coach Andrew Doennig said after the win. “It is kind of exciting. There are kind of a lot of unknowns. They beat Branson 1-0 and played a real close game with Neosho yesterday so you don’t really know what to expect. You know that they would be a well-coached team because Coach Hoffman was a really good player when he was here.
“We were fortunate enough to get a few two-strike hits. … We have really been preaching to our guys the last couple of days to just refuse to strike out, put the ball in play and make the other team play defense.
“It all comes back to pitching and defense for us. There is an old saying that goes, ‘If the other team doesn’t score, it’s hard to lose.’ So, I don’t know how often those come around in baseball, but we’ll take as many as we can get.”
While the Webb City offense scored early and often to grab the momentum, Kaylor Darnell was dazzling on the hill. He finished with the win after pitching a six-inning, complete-game shutout after scattering three hits, walking one and striking out six.
“Kaylor has gotten better each time he has gone out there,” Doennig said. “Tonight, he had three pitches working and was throwing all of them for strikes, striking one kid out on a really good changeup. He is starting to find his groove a little bit and starting to find his pitches. All the work these guys put in over the offseason with Coach (Steve) Luebber has been awesome.”
The Cardinals took control in the fourth inning after putting up six runs on the scoreboard. At one point, Webb City registered six straight hits in the frame, finishing with seven total in the frame.
Christian Brock started things off with a single in front of William Hayes, who belted a two-run home to left field with one out for a 2-0 lead.
Landon Johnson and Gage Chapman both singled, with Johnson coming around to score when a double steal led to a throwing error on the throw to third.
Cy Darnell singled to center field to plate a run and Kaylor Darnell followed with a single to shallow left field to keep the line moving. After a ground out, Drew Vonder Haar singled through the left side to bring home two more runs for an early and overwhelming 6-0 lead.
“It was pretty nice,” Doennig said of the second inning. “Our guys have really been buying into our offensive philosophy. Even in the first inning we hit three balls really, really hard. … Our guys are seeing it better and getting into a little bit better groove. The beginning of the year was a little bit of struggle for us offensively, but I think the kids are really starting to swing it better.”
Kaylor Darnell added to his cause in the fourth inning, hitting a sacrifice fly to left to score Chapman, who doubled to left earlier in the inning.
Webb City ended the game in the sixth inning after adding three more insurance runs on two hits and a Lakes Community error.
Cy Darnell, who finished the game a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, drove in Chapman with an RBI single before he came around to score when Shaun Hunt reached on a throwing error. Vonder Haar ended the game in the next at-bat with a run-scoring single to left.
“That is always the biggest concern when you go out and score a bunch of runs in one inning,” Doennig said about his team’s ability to add on in the fourth and sixth frames. “That’s the thing about high school baseball, if you can finish a team or finish a game early, you really want to so you can save your pitchers.”
Along with Cy Darnell’s team-high four hits, which included a double, he also drove in two and scored two. Vonder Haar doubled on the way to two hits and three RBI, while Chapman doubled for one of his two hits to go along with three runs scored. Hayes homered and had two RBI and a run scored.
Webb City takes part in the Springfield Red and Blue Classic baseball tournament over the weekend with games against Liberty on Friday and Republic and Benton on Saturday.
