WEBB CITY, Mo. — Cole Gayman had plenty of extra motivation ahead of Thursday’s game against the Republic Tigers.
For starters, Gayman was set to take the mound on the night he and his fellow seniors were recognized for their contributions to the program.
That’s not all. Gayman was also taking the hill against a team that had just clinched an outright conference championship.
With that extra incentive in mind, Gayman delivered a masterful performance, leading Webb City to an impressive 8-0 victory over Republic in the final Central Ozark Conference clash of the season at Chuck Barnes Field.
A 5-foot-11 senior right-hander, Gayman dazzled for 6 2/3 innings, keeping the Tigers off the scoreboard, striking out a career-high 15 and limiting the visitors to just four hits in a memorable performance.
“My bullpen today was kind of iffy honestly,” Gayman said. “I didn’t have very good control in my bullpen. Once I went out there and did my warm-up pitches before the first inning, I found my stride and it just carried over for the rest of the game. Today and at CJ I think I really found my release point. I think that’s been a big factor.
“It feels good to know that I’m hitting my stride at the right time of the season,” Gayman added. “I hope that carries over so I can help my team win more games.”
“Cole had an awesome performance,” Webb City coach Flave Darnell said. “Cole’s an awesome competitor. He’s worked real hard with Coach (Andrew) Doennig in the bullpen on developing a couple of other pitches and he was able to show those tonight. He had an awesome game and it’s really easy to coach when someone pitches like that.”
Gayman struck out the side in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings and he did not walk a batter.
“His slider was good, his fastball jumped and he had a good change-up going tonight,” Darnell said. “He looked really, really good tonight. He had a really good outing against Carl Junction last Tuesday and he looked fresh and ready to go tonight. He looks really strong right now.”
Ranked third in Class 5, Webb City improved to 20-5 overall with a sixth straight win. The Cardinals finished 7-2 in the COC, good for second place.
Republic, now 16-7 overall, had a nine-game winning streak snapped. The Tigers, who are receiving votes in the Class 6 poll, finished on top of the COC standings with an 8-1 record.
Republic had clinched an outright conference championship by beating Nixa on Wednesday, so it’s safe to say the Cardinals earned a statement victory on Thursday.
And although the Cardinals were unable to secure a COC championship this spring, they can now make this claim—they beat the conference champion twice.
“We beat them twice this year so we think we’re right there with them,” Gayman said.
Webb City defeated Republic 11-8 back on March 22 in a LAEL Classic matchup.
“The COC is a really tough league and hats off to Republic for winning their first eight conference games,” Darnell said. “We stubbed our toe a little bit along the way, but that’s how it goes. But we feel like we’re a really good team and we want to be as good as we can in May. Right now, we’re playing really well and we hope we can keep that up.”
GAME RECAP
Webb City pushed across two runs in the first against Republic starter Vincent Pyeatt, as Devrin Weathers walked and later scored on Shane Noel’s RBI groundout before Matt Woodmansee delivered an RBI single into left for a 2-0 cushion.
The Cardinals added four runs in the third.
After Parker, Woodmansee and Gayman all singled, Eli Goddard was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, allowing Treghan Parker to trot home. Aiden Brock contributed a sacrifice fly, a run scored on an error and the final tally crossed home on a wild pitch.
Republic threatened in the fourth, as Gavyn Beckner reached on an error and Kyle Hill doubled with one out. But Gayman fanned the next two batters to get out of the jam.
Webb City added a couple of insurance runs in the fifth. Eric Fitch hit an RBI double to left, allowing Gavin Stowell to score. Fitch later came home on Parker’s run-scoring groundout, making it 8-0.
The run support was more than enough for Gayman, who continued to put up zeroes inning after inning.
Gayman left with two outs in the seventh after reaching his pitch count after plunking Richard Potter. How bad did Gayman want to finish the game?
“Really bad,” he said. “My last pitch I think was my 105 pitch. It was kind of a bummer.”
Noah Mitchell recorded the final out to seal the win.
SENIOR NIGHT
Webb City’s seniors — Woodmansee, Weathers, Gayman, Parker, Noel, Goddard and Mitchell — were recognized after the game.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Webb City is hosting Hillcrest and Harrisonville at 10 and 2 on Saturday.
