CARTHAGE, Mo. — Noah Mitchell tossed six scoreless innings and the Webb City Cardinals gave him more than enough run support en route to a convincing 8-0 Central Ozark Conference win over rival Carthage on Monday at Carl Lewton Stadium.
“We’re happy to get our first COC win,” Webb City coach Flave Darnell said. “I thought Noah did a really nice job tonight. He threw strikes and our corner infielders made some good plays. We didn’t feel uncomfortable when our defense was out there because of how many strikes Noah was throwing.”
Ranked third in Class 5 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, Webb City hiked its record to 12-2.
A senior right-hander who pumped in strike after strike, Mitchell kept the Tigers off the scoreboard for six frames. He gave up just three hits and struck out two. Senior righty Eli Goddard struck out two in a perfect seventh.
The Cardinals, who totaled six hits, were able to get on base and make things happen with aggressive baserunning while also making the most of four Carthage errors.
“We were able to take advantage of some extra opportunities early and then their pitcher (Kaden Arr) settled down,” Darnell said. “He has a good breaking ball and he kept us off-balance. He kept us guessing. I thought their pitcher did an excellent job of settling in. We were fortunate to take advantage of those extra outs early in the game.”
Carthage received a solid outing from Arr, a junior right-hander. Arr allowed just six hits and struck out eight.
“He threw great,” Carthage coach Luke Bordewick said of Arr. “He really kept them off-balance with his off-speed pitches. I just wish we would have played better defense behind him. Those errors take a pitcher out of his rhythm and can take a team out of its rhythm. We have to shore some things up before our game at CJ tomorrow.”
Zach Geter recorded the final two outs for the Tigers (4-6). Carthage was limited to three hits, one apiece from Kanen Vogt, Caden Kabance and Sylas Browning.
“That’s a COC arm, but we should have done better,” Bordewick said. “There’s no way around it. We should have hit better.”
GAME RECAP
The Cardinals plated two runs in the first. Speedy leadoff hitter Devrin Weathers singled to right, took second on a wild pitch and then stole third. After Shane Noel walked, Weathers jogged home on Matt Woodmansee’s RBI single to right field.
Noel came home on a double steal later in the inning, giving the visitors an early two-run cushion. The Cardinals stole three bases in the first frame.
“We want to do that,” Darnell said. “We want to put pressure on the pitcher and the defense. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Webb City pushed across a single tally in the second, as Goddard singled and later scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Tigers had runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the second, but Mitchell retired two straight batters to get out of the jam.
In the third, the Cardinals scored four runs on one hit, two walks and four Carthage errors.
Cole Gayman singled and later came home on an error. After Aiden Brock and Goddard both reached on errors, Brantley Carter walked before Eric Fitch contributed a sac fly for a 5-0 lead.
Weathers walked before Treghan Parker put the ball in play, and two runs scored on an error, giving Webb City a 7-0 cushion.
The Cardinals turned a 6-3-5 double play in the fourth to maneuver out of potential trouble.
Webb City went up 8-0 in the seventh when Gayman delivered a sac fly.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Carthage is at Carl Junction on Tuesday, while Webb City is at Ozark on Thursday.
