Griffons fall to Branson on the road, 2-0

Nevada Daily Mail

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- In its last three games, the Nevada Griffons baseball team went on an undefeated tear in which it scored an average of five runs per game and held the opposition to just two per game, on average to edge closer to the .500 mark in MINK League play and attempt to stay in touch with the top teams in the South Division.

Head coach Ryan Mansfield's squad got back into action Tuesday night, at Fred Handler Park on the campus of Southwest Baptist University, hoping to keep that streak going in the second of three consecutive games against the Branson Nationals. Head coach Matt Lawson's Nationals had other ideas, however, as they rode a dominant performance on the mound from starting pitcher Aaron Patton on the way to a 2-0 victory.

Patton's numbers were far from impressive coming into the night, as he entered Tuesday night's action winless in three decisions, with a 7.36 ERA. That was a far cry from what the Griffons saw out of Patton in the contest, however, as he allowed just four hits with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 scoreless innings to take the win.

Gage Jacobs finished with one strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save.

The only genuine scoring chance the Griffons had all night came in the first inning, when Brooks Morse led off the game with a double. The Griffons eventually ended up with runners on second and third with one out, but Patton was able to get out of the jam by retiring the final two hitters to come to the plate in the frame with no damage.

The Nationals went on to load the bases with one out in the home half of the third inning, before Griffons starter Payton Walker brought in the first run of the night when his 3-2 pitch to Andrew Kendrick sailed high to give Branson a 1-0 lead. Lawson's squad went on to take a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning when Brock Hammit was able to lift a weak fly ball over the head of Griffons first baseman Cody Farrell to bring home Garrett Mays.

It wasn't long after that when Walker's day on the mound came to an end, as Mansfield elected to go to his bullpen after the seventh inning. By the time all was said and done, Walker finished the night allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks in seven innings of work to take his second loss in three decisions this season.

Once the bullpens took over, the offense stopped for both teams, but the Nationals certainly weren't without scoring opportunities, from that point on. By the time all was said and done, the Nationals outhit the Griffons, 7-5, and benefitted from two errors in the sixth inning by Griffons third baseman Jimmy Spanos to plate their second run.

No Griffons player finished with more than one hit in the contest and every hitter who did reach base did so just once, as the Nationals' pitching staff got through the night without issuing a walk and the defense was solid all night long, finishing the game without an error. Such was not the case for the Branson offense, however, as two players -- Hammit and Kolby Follis -- finished the night with a pair of hits and the Griffons' pitching staff issued a total of five walks on the night to go with the two Spanos errors.

Though the Nationals only plated two runs in the contest, that total could have been considerably higher, as they were certainly not without baserunners in the contest. Aside from the one problem inning in the sixth, the Griffons' defense showed a strong ability to work out of jams, however, ultimately forcing the Nationals to strand 10 runners on the basepaths.

With the loss, the Griffons fell to 10-11 overall, 8-11 in MINK League play and fell to fourth place in the division. Mansfield's squad is scheduled to be back in action on Wednesday, on the first night of a five-game homestand.

That Griffons will take on the Nationals in an attempt to win the three-game series at 7 p.m., at Lyons Stadium, weather permitting.