Playing as the away team after rain forced the game to be played at the fully turfed baseball field at the JHS Athletic Complex, Joplin poured it on in the later innings on the way to 15-4 win in six innings over St. Mary’s Colgan on Tuesday.
Joplin (1-2), which earned its first win of the season against the Panthers (0-1) in their first action of 2022, scored 15 runs on 15 hits, including 10 extra base hits made up of five doubles, four triples and a home run.
The Eagles scored twice in the first, once in the second, three times in the fourth and pulled away with a five-run fifth before icing the win with four runs in the sixth inning.
“It’s always good to get that first win of the year,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “Coming into the game, there is that weighing on you a little bit just trying to get that first one.
“I thought our approach at the plate was a lot better today. We have things to work on, but we spent a lot of time since Saturday just talking about our mental approach to our at-bats and recognizing situations and what we needed to do in a given at-bat. I am hoping that they are seeing that a lot of those extra-base hits were with two strikes and two outs. We stayed within our approach, stayed short and were still able to drive the ball without trying to do too much. Hopefully, that is something that we will continue to build upon as the season goes on.”
ON THE MOUND
As a staff, Joplin limited the Panthers to just three hits but SMC did benefit early from 10 walks allowed by the Eagles.
Byler Reither earned the win after allowing three runs, one earned, on one hit, five walks and five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Alex Isbell allowed one hit, walked three and struck out two in 2 1/3 relief innings. Landon Maples allowed one run on one hit, two walks and two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning, while Tyler Duley pitched a scoreless 1/3 of an inning.
“I thought when we threw strikes we were really good,” Wolf said with a chuckle. “We are trying to get guys to understand the process of all of this. When we bury it in the zone and just keep throwing strikes, good things are going to happen for us.”
Kysen Bennett started for SMC and took the loss after allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits, a walk and a strikeout in two innings of work. Kaden Vogel surrendered one hit and a walk with three strikeouts in one relief inning. Brooks Badart, Gus Keller, Tristan Voss and John Potusek combined to allow 12 runs on 10 hits, three walks and five punchouts in three total relief innings.
GAME ACTION
After each team scored a pair of runs in the first inning without recording a run-scoring hit in the process, Joplin regained the lead in the top of the second inning fueled by three hits. Bodee Carlson broke the 2-2 tie two batters later with a two-out, two-bag hit to right-center field to plate a run for the 3-2 advantage.
The Panthers tied the game back up in the bottom of the third inning with a run scoring on a wild pitch. SMC was threatening with the bases loaded and two outs before Isbell came on in relief of Reither and forced a pop up to get out of the jam.
The momentum with two outs continued for the Eagles in the top of the fourth inning when Justin McReynolds tripled down the line to left field for an RBI before coming around to score in the next at-bat when Kyler Stokes followed with a two-out RBI triple of his own. Stokes ultimately touched home plate on the play following a Colgan error to make the score 6-3.
“We say it all the time—two-out hits win games,” Wolf said. “They are backbreakers for the other team and they really build up your team when you can get them in terms of energy. That was great to see us coming up and being comfortable with two strikes and two outs to be able to deliver in those situations.”
Joplin plated five runs on five hits an inning later to blow the lead open to eight runs. The Eagles had four extra-base hits in the inning. After a one-out triple from Landon Maples, Tyler Schumann doubled to center field to bring home a run. Two batters later, Carlson came up with an RBI double to left-center field to make the score 9-3. Stokes capped the inning with a two-out, two-run home run to deep left field to bring the score to 11-3 through four and a half innings.
“Kyler has that potential,” Wolf said about the monster home run to left. “He can be the best baseball player on the field when he stays within himself. He didn’t try to do too much on that pitch. It was just a solid swing that he can create bat speed and get into it and drive a ball like that.”
Joplin added four more runs in the top of the six inning to initiate the run rule.
AT THE PLATE
Carlson and Stokes each had three hits to lead Joplin at the plate. Carlson had two doubles and a triple with three RBI and a run scored, while Stokes finished with a triple and a home run to go along with a team-high four RBI and two runs scored. Ethan Guilford doubled and had two hits, while Maples tripled for one of his two hits and scored two runs. Schumann and Braidy Mails each doubled and finished with two hits.
Cooper Simmons had a hit, two walks and an RBI to lead Colgan at the plate. Bennett added a hit and an RBI, while Connor VanBecelaere had a hit and scored a run.
