WEBB CITY, Mo. — Tuesday’s Central Ozark Conference game between the host Webb City Cardinals and the visiting Joplin Eagles demonstrated how every little thing adds up and makes a difference.
Webb City second baseman Sam Weller and courtesy runner Andrew Elwell ran wild on the bases with a combined eight stolen bases and Weller scored two of the Cardinals’ three runs, while Joplin struggled on the bases with one runner picked off at second base by Webb City starter Kaylor Darnell and another caught in a rundown between second and third and eventually tagged out at third for the second out in the last chance seventh during a 3-0 win for Webb City at Chuck Barnes Field.
“You’re able to take advantage of some stuff on the bases to put yourself in a better scoring position,” Webb City coach Andrew Doennig said. “I was pretty happy to see our guys moving around the bases and creating some pressure on them.”
“We made too many mistakes in critical situations, most notably on the basepaths and against a good team like they are, when you have your opportunities, you can’t run yourself out of innings with mistakes on the bases,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “The frustrating part is that it’s stuff that we coach on a daily basis, and I’ve just got to be a better coach to get them to understand the importance of those things and why they matter in big situations in a game. I’m not doing a good enough job of getting them to understand that those things matter and that we have to do those little things correctly.”
Webb City is now 16-9 overall and 7-1 in conference, while Joplin is 6-16 overall and 1-6 in conference.
Darnell and Walker Sweet combined on a four-hit shutout, besting Joplin pitchers Byler Reither and Kutler Schwarting who allowed five hits over their six innings.
“Kaylor did a great job battling through 6 1/3,” Doennig said. “He always does a great job staying in the game, so that’s what you ask for in a starter, to give you a chance and he gave up four hits, had one walk and nine strikeouts and that’s a pretty good stat line.”
Darnell finished at 86 pitches, nearly 75 percent of them for strikes, and his sharpness included nine strikeouts and one walk.
Sweet came on in relief and picked up the last two outs.
Offensively, Shaun Hunt and Gage Chapman each led Webb City with two hits and Weller had the Cardinals’ first hit of the game with a single to right.
Weller stole second, stole third, and then scored the game’s first run on a throwing error trying to get him out at third.
Cy Darnell worked one of his two walks on the day and worked his way around the bases to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead after one.
The Cardinals scored their last run in the third in a similar fashion as their first: Weller led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a steal of home.
Webb City honored seniors Cy Darnell, William Hayes, Kenley Hood, Sweet, Eli Miller, Kaylor Darnell, Landon Johnson, Chapman, Tyler Marbut, and Evan Freeman between the varsity and the JV game Tuesday.
Joplin starter Reither took the loss and he allowed three runs (all earned) on four hits over five innings with two strikeouts and five walks.
Schwarting pitched a strong sixth inning and he worked through one Webb City hit with two strikeouts during his 12-pitch outing.
Caden Shoemaker led Joplin with two hits, including a perfect bunt single in the third, and Brady Mails and Cole Lawrence each had one.
“I thought we had a good offensive approach,” Wolf said. “We didn’t chase a lot and found a way. We had baserunners throughout the course of the game with opportunities to try and score. Maybe one inning where it was a pretty quiet inning.
“Byler didn’t have his best stuff by any means today, but I thought he competed, settled in, and to get him into the fifth inning for us was huge. It was a credit to him for competing and keeping us in a situation where if we don’t have some baserunning miscues, a base hit puts us right in the midst of the game to have an opportunity to win it.
“It’s just disappointing because those are little things that really take no talent, they just take focus to understand that we have to do it better.”
The Cardinals have one conference game remaining and it’s a big one Thursday with a share of the COC at stake between a pair of 7-1 teams in conference play in Willard.
“I told the kids after our game in Nixa (8-7 loss on April 20) that if we want a chance to play for the conference championship, you’ve got to win the rest of ’em,” Doennig said. “They’ve done a great job since then, won some close ones, and gave us a chance to play for one, so we’ll go to Willard on Thursday. They’re a good team, so we’ll be ready to play.”
The Cardinals take a five-game winning streak into a critical game, while the Tigers, 21-8 overall, are on a 10-game winning streak with a 7-6 win Tuesday over Branson on a walk-off from Cooper Hampton setting themselves up for Thursday.
Willard also moved into the second spot in the latest Class 5 state rankings released Tuesday by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association.
Meanwhile, Republic improved to 16-9 overall and 7-1 COC with a huge 7-2 win Tuesday over eighth-ranked in Class 6 Nixa, and the Tigers have their chance to clinch their share of the COC when they host Neosho (14-12, 2-6 COC) on Thursday.
Joplin returns to action Wednesday and Thursday on the road against conference foes Ozark and Branson.
