WEBB CITY, Mo. — Webb City kept its Central Ozark Conference title hopes alive by earning a 5-3 win over Nixa on Thursday at Chuck Barnes Field.
Ranked second in Class 5 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, Webb City hiked its record to 16-5 overall and 5-2 in the COC.
“This is a great win,” Webb City coach Flave Darnell said. “Nixa’s a great team and a great program. This win keeps us in the conference race a little bit. Hopefully someone can knock off Republic along the way.”
Republic is now the lone unbeaten team in the conference, while Webb City, Joplin and Nixa all have two COC setbacks apiece.
Webb City has just two COC games remaining, as the Cardinals host Neosho on Tuesday and Republic on Thursday.
“We’ve got Neosho and Republic next week, so it should be a fun week for sure,” Darnell said.
Ranked seventh in the Class 6 poll, Nixa fell to 16-4 and 4-2 in the conference.
GAME RECAP
Thursday’s game was moved to Webb City due to wet playing conditions in Nixa, and the Cardinals set the tone right from the start with a three-run first inning.
The visitors on the scoreboard, Webb City got going early against Nixa starting pitcher Keith Piepmeier.
Leadoff batter Devrin Weathers walked and stole second before Treghan Parker lined an RBI double into right.
After Shane Noel reached on a bunt single, Matt Woodmansee followed with a sacrifice fly to right.
Cole Gayman made it 3-0 with a run-scoring double into left.
“That was big,” Darnell said of his team’s quick start. “Devrin and Treghan have been doing a great job at the top of the order. Shane’s bunt base hit was awesome. We’ve really been stressing small ball. I thought we did well on Tuesday and we did a pretty good job of that again today. We need to keep doing that stuff to put pressure on the defense.”
Nixa got on the board in the bottom of the second against Webb City right-hander Eric Fitch, as Alek Johnson singled and later scored from third on a balk.
The Cardinals got the run back in the third, as Parker singled and later went to third on Woodmansee’s infield single. Gayman’s sac bunt brought home Parker and made it 4-1.
Webb City extended its lead to 5-1 in the fourth, as Jeremiah Leaming singled, Fitch was hit by a pitch and Weathers reached on an infield single to load the bases.
Next, Parker lifted a sacrifice fly into center, with Leaming sprinting home.
Nixa trimmed its deficit to three in the bottom half of the fourth.
Johnson walked, stole second and later scored on a Webb City miscue in the field, cutting Webb City’s lead to 5-2.
Nixa pulled within two runs in the sixth, as Quinn Gundelfinger doubled to start the frame. At that point, Fitch was relieved by Noel.
Nixa’s Rylan Michel delivered a run-scoring single to left to cut Webb City’s advantage to 5-3.
But Noel struck out the final two batters of the inning to maneuver out of trouble nicely.
Back out for the seventh, Noel retired the Eagles in order to secure the win.
NAMES & NUMBERS
Parker went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Cardinals, while Gayman drove in two runs on two hits. Aiden Brock, Parker and Gayman all hit doubles.
Webb City had a number of chances to break the game open, but the Cardinals stranded 10 runners on-base.
“We had guys on-base and we had some other chances to execute some sac bunts and we were unable to do that today,” Darnell noted. “But their lefty came in and kept us at bay. We’re going to keep working.”
A junior, Fitch was the winning pitcher. He went five innings and allowed just two runs on four hits. He struck out one and walked one.
“It was good to see his start today,” Darnell said. “Eric competed. We went hitter by hitter and Eric kept us in the game. Eric’s a competitor and it was good to see his outing.”
Noel earned the save by going the final two frames, striking out three.
“Shane definitely came into a tough situation, but Shane’s a competitor,” Darnell said. “I’m very happy with Shane. This was a good win.”
The Eagles were limited to six hits.
Piepmeier took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits in four innings of work. Left-hander Sam Russo tossed three scoreless innings in relief.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Webb City travels to Marshfield on Saturday for a pair of non-conference games, one against the hosts and another against Ste. Genevieve.
