WEBB CITY, Mo. — In a final tune-up before the postseason arrives, Webb City earned a 4-3 win over Frontenac, Kansas, on Thursday night at Chuck Barnes Field.
Four early runs held up for the Cardinals after the Raiders rallied for three unanswered tallies late in the non-conference clash.
Frontenac entered the day with only two losses on their record, so for the Cardinals, it was a solid way to conclude the regular season.
“All wins are good wins,” Webb City coach Andrew Doennig said. “Frontenac’s a good team. That’s a good win for us. Both teams are preparing for their district tournaments, so it’s a good way to end the regular season.”
Webb City finishes the regular season with a record of 18-13.
Playing a tough schedule, Webb City has suffered five one-run losses this season, along with three two-run setbacks.
“We’ve played a really tough schedule, so I feel like 18 wins is good,” Doennig said. “We’ve had a lot of close losses. We could easily be 23-8 or something like that. But we played a tough schedule to prepare us for the postseason.”
GAME RECAP
The Cardinals pushed across a single tally in the first inning after junior second baseman Sam Weller doubled to left-center field and junior right fielder Drew Vonder Haar lined an RBI single into right-center.
Webb City added two runs in the second.
Senior left fielder William Hayes, senior center fielder Gage Chapman and Weller all singled to load the bases before senior shortstop Cy Darnell lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
Later in the inning, a Frontenac error made it 3-0.
Chapman’s RBI single to left gave the hosts a four-run cushion in the third.
The Raiders got on the board in the fourth after two singles, a fielder’s choice and a Webb City error. A second run scored from third after a wild pitch.
The Cardinals stranded the bases loaded in the fourth before the Raiders scored once in the fifth to trim their deficit to one.
Frontenac had the tying run on base in the seventh before Webb City closer Walker Sweet retired the side.
“We got a few runs early, but we couldn’t get a timely hit here or there later in the game,” Doennig noted. “That’s baseball. One of these days we’re going to have the bases loaded and we’re going to get three hits in-a-row. It’s going to happen.”
Sophomore left-hander Luke Beverlin earned the win. He went four innings and allowed just one earned run on five hits. He struck out four.
Chapman allowed a run on two hits in two innings of relief.
“Beverlin continues to get better each time out, and Gage did a good job, too,” Doennig said. “I thought all of our pitchers did their jobs today.”
A senior, Sweet pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out two. Doennig noted Sweet has been nearly automatic in save situations.
“If we can go to Walker in the seventh inning with a lead, we feel like we’re in a good place,” Doennig said.
Weller, Chapman and Vonder Haar had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.
Mario Menghini took the loss. He gave up three earned runs on seven hits in three innings. Bryant Kitchen pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the Raiders of the CNC League.
Logan Myers had two of Frontenac’s seven hits.
Frontenac fell to 17-3 ahead of their regional tournament.
DISTRICT TOURNEY AWAITS
Webb City is the No. 2 seed for the Class 5 District 7 tournament.
The Cardinals will take on seventh-seeded Grandview at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16 in a quarterfinal contest of the district tourney at Warrensburg High School.
If the Cardinals win their opener, they’d take on either No. 3 Belton or No. 6 Bolivar in the semifinals on May 18.
The district title game is slated for May 22.
“We feel good about our chances in the district tournament, but you never know what will happen in districts,” Doennig said. “Anything can happen in postseason baseball. There are a lot of unknown teams in our district. We don’t know them, but they don’t know us. We’ll go up there and see what happens.”
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
