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Tigers chalk one up one down during double header
By Ralph Pokorny
The weather for Tuesday's double header between the Nevada Tigers and the Parsons, Kan. Vikings was chilly but the fans who watched the games saw two hot pitchers determine the outcome for two different teams.
Andrew Kennon threw an 8-0 shut-out for Nevada in game one followed by a 10-4 win for Parsons orchestrated by the pitching of Zach Barnett who struck out eight consecutive batters with a total of 14 strike outs.
"The kids played hard for two games I was really pleased with our efforts in the first game. We had such strong pitching and played good defense and we hit the ball real well," Nevada head baseball coach Tyson Beshore said.
A single by Nevada senior Grant Pierson and an RBI double by Kaleb Leonard in the first inning gave Nevada a 1-0 lead where it stayed until the fourth inning when they picked up two more runs.
When Nevada came up to bat in the fifth inning with a 3-0 lead, Justin Reed got on with a single past second base, followed by bunt single by Grant Pierson and a walk by Luke Stahl to load the bases.
A fly to center field by Nevada's clean-up hitter Kaleb Leonard blew the game wide open scoring three runs for a 6-0 lead.
Two more runs in the sixth secured Nevada's 8-0 win.
"The second game we started off with strong pitching. The guys who came in after that threw well, but we just weren't as effective going right at them and got behind in the count. It put a lot of pressure on us and the defense just didn't help us out today and the way he was pitching we were going to struggle scoring runs," Beshore said.
Parson's Zach Barnett set the tone for the second game by striking out Nevada's first three batters, only to stumble briefly in the second inning when he walked Nevada Kaleb Leonard and Cody Thompson to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Kevin Post popped up for Nevada's first out.
Barnett let loose another wild pitch to Andrew Kennon advancing the runners to second and third. A double into center field let Leonard and Thompson score for a 2-0 lead.
A wild pitch to David Hawks, who Barnett eventually walked, moved Kennon to third.
A wild throw to first base moved Hawks to second and let Leonard add run number 3. Nevada's catcher Keith Overton struck out.
Stahl, who was only scheduled to throw 40 pitches, struck out two more batters before he moved to first base.
Justin Reed led off the third inning for Nevada with a single to center field and moved on to second when Grant Pierson laid down a sacrifice bunt.
A single by Stahl put Reed on third.
A final wild pitch by Barnett let Reed steal home giving Nevada a 4-0 lead.
Parsons picked up two runs in the third inning Barnett, who had a rough second inning, got his pitching back under control and picked up where he left off in the third inning by striking out the next six Nevada batters, for a string of eight strike outs, while Parsons added six more runs to their total for an 8-4 lead after five innings.
Two more runs in the sixth gave Parsons a 10-4 win.
"My hats off to Parsons but our kids battled and we got a split out of it and we have to be ready to play tomorrow," Beshore said.
"Kids played well, we just didn't have much left in the tank for the second game," he said.
The Tigers travel to Harrisonville to on the Wildcats, who Beshore said were state ranked before the season began.
Beshore said that the Wildcats have most of their players back from last year's district championship team.
On Thursday the Tigers play the Butler Bears at 4:30 at Lyon Stadium.
The Tigers will play Lamar in the consolation game of the Bill O'Dell Tournament in Carthage on either Friday or Saturday.