SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Second-seeded Republic scored five times in the third inning and four times in the fourth to set the pace in a 10-0 win over seventh-seeded Carthage in six innings in opening-round Class 6 District 6 action on Monday.
Carthage graduates four seniors from this year’s squad—Kaden Kralicek, Wil McCombs, Grant Collier and Mason Utter.
“I said it over in our team huddle, if the underclassmen take anything from this group, it’s their work ethic,” Carthage coach Luke Bordewick said of his seniors. “They grind in the weight room and grind on the field. They play with a lot of passion and a lot of energy. They are four great examples of what we want Carthage baseball to look like.”
Carthage ends its first season under Bordewick with an 8-19 record.
“I think it’s been a mostly-competitive season,” Bordewick said. “We’ve been in a lot of ball games. But, like this game, we have one or two bad innings and it just gets away from us. I think we are competing and have the right mindset. We built a really good foundation this year to build off of.”
After two and a half scoreless innings, Republic struck with two-out lighting in the third. Vincent Pyeatt doubled to left to plate the first run with two away. Ryker Harrington added a bases-loaded walk before Jared Hughes singled in three runs to push the lead to 5-0.
The two-out magic continued for Republic in the fourth, as Pyeatt doubled home a run with two outs to make the score 6-0. Harrington added an RBI single before an error by Carthage allowed two more runs to touch home.
Republic ended the game in the sixth when Hughes was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
“We just had some untimely errors there and let them get away with it,” Bordewick said. “That’s what happens in playoff baseball. If you beat yourself up, you’re not going to win a whole lot of games.”
ON THE MOUND
Pyeatt earned the win after pitching a complete-game shutout in six innings. He scattered four hits, walked five and struck out five.
Kaden Arr took the loss after allowing 10 runs, two earned, on six hits, four walks and six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
“Kaden threw probably his best game all year,” Bordewick said. “He had all three pitches working. He has another year left and hopefully he sticks with the weight room and sticks with throwing because I think he could be something really special.”
IN THE BOX
Hughes had a hit and four RBI to lead Republic. Pyeatt had two hits, three runs scored and two RBI, while Harrington had a hit, two walks, two RBI and scored twice.
Caden Kabance, McCombs, Sylas Browning and Max Templeman all had hits for Carthage.
