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Heathman slugs two home runs as Tigers fall to Bolivar
Nevada Daily Mail
The Nevada Tigers fell 8-6 to the Bolivar Liberators at Lyons Stadium, Monday afternoon.
The loss is the seventh in a row for Nevada (5-8).
Looking to snap their extended losing streak, the Tigers jumped out to a promising start, as right fielder Andrew Heathman belted a 3-run home run off Liberators southpaw Clay Long in the bottom of the first inning.
Heathman's blast over the left-center field fence, plated Tanner Handly and Tyler Ketterman, giving Nevada a 3-0 lead.
Two errors in the top of the second inning proved costly for Nevada, as Bolivar would wind up putting two runs on the board, trimming the Tigers lead to 3-2.
Errors have mounted for the Tigers during the losing skid.
"Unfortunately, those mistakes are coming early in games, leading to a mindset of, 'I hope the ball's not hit to me,'" Nevada coach Danny Penn said during his post-game radio interview.
"It looks like some of our defenders are lacking confidence when the ball is hit to them. They're thinking too much during the play, rather than thinking before the play, and just reacting when the ball is hit."
Nevada first baseman Jacob Johnson led off the bottom of the second inning with a single to left field. Later in the inning, Johnson advanced to second base on a fielders choice, and then to third base on a passed ball during Handley's second at-bat of the contest.
Handly drove in Johnson after rocketing a 3-1 pitch down the third base line, as Nevada went on top 4-2.
After a Ketterman walk, putting runners on first and second base, Heathman stepped to the plate, looking to extend Nevada's lead. However, Heathman was induced into a fly out, ending the inning.
Tigers starting pitcher, Ketterman, began to experience some turbulence in the top of the third inning, as Aaron Samek and John Cates reached base and advanced into scoring position with 1-out.
Ketterman was unable to escape the inning unscathed, as Texas Tech University commit, J.D. Murders, launched a 3-run homer, handing the Liberators their first lead of the contest at 5-4.
Penn said he was aware of Murders offensive prowess.
"We were trying to be careful there with our pitching," Penn said. "Trying to pitch around him without intentionally walking him. And unfortunately, we left the ball over the plate, and he got a hold of it."
Ketterman was roughed up some by Bolivar, but pitched well in his previous outing against Joplin.
"I have to remind myself that Tyler is only a sophomore," Penn said. "He's a young kid, and he sees his defense is struggling behind him. And he thinks, 'Well, I need to do a little more myself.'
"And so, he tried to get a little bit too perfect himself. Tried to nibble on the corners. Tried to make a perfect pitch every pitch, instead of just trusting his defense to make plays."
The Liberators added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to go on top 7-4. However, Heathman helped to minimize the damage, when he gunned down Bolivar's Chase Roweton, with a precision throw from right field to home plate.
Heathman added to his offensive output in the bottom of the fifth inning, smacking a 2-run bomb, plating catcher Brett Mitchell for his fifth RBI of the game, slicing the Liberators lead to 7-6.
"He had a nice day at the plate," Penn said. "He did a nice job of letting the ball get deep in the zone, and he was not out on his front foot.
"Andy supplied most of our offense today, and we're lucky that he did. He kept it a close game for us."
Trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mitchell reached base with a two-out double to right-center field. With an opportunity to tie the game with one swing of the bat, Heathman flied out to shallow center field.
Down to their final three outs, Nevada freshman Braeden Hinton drilled a Samek pitch into deep left field. However, Samek was throwing hard in relief and worked around the Hinton double, earning all three outs via strike out to end the game.
On-deck accident
Prior to the bottom of the first inning, Nevada senior Austin Wiggans was struck in the face-head area by a teammate with an aluminum bat, in a freak accident in the on-deck circle. Wiggans was transported to the hospital by private vehicle.
"He's having stitches both above and below his right eye," Penn said. "He has a fractured orbital bone, I believe. And so, it may require some plastic surgery."
Penn later added that Wiggans may have also suffered a broken nose.
"I'm anxious to get a hold of Austin, to reach out to him and see how he's doing," Penn said.
Smith-Cotton contest
Nevada fell at home Friday to Sedalia-Smith Cotton, 14-4.
"Smith-Cotton hit the ball extremely well," Penn said. "You could tell that they were disciplined hitters who came to the plate with a prepared approach.
"For the most part, they were sitting first-pitch fastball, and if they got it, they were all over it. Even with two strikes, they did a good job of taking a balanced swing."
Derek O'Dell started on the mound for Nevada.
As for our side of things, (Derek) struggled again with location," Penn said. "When he missed with his fastball, it was often up in the zone.
"As a result, their hitters were able to take advantage of fastballs at the belt, and good hitters don't often miss those. That's what allowed their 3-hole hitter (Hagedorn) to homer in the first inning.
"They had two to three other extra base hits to the fence as well. Derek did a nice job of competing and I took that as a positive. His mental toughness was apparent because he didn't back down and he didn't overthrow."
Penn said he was pleased with his team's improved offensive approach.
"Offensively, we came out swinging," he said. "I was happy with our first inning, especially after falling behind 2-0. Tanner, Tyler, and Brett all came out and had good swings and I was happy with how we responded.
"We ended with nine hits, which is an improvement from our past few games. Trey Pritchett and Jacob Johnson both had two hits apiece, and those are two bats that we need to be swinging well for us to be successful."
Penn said his team's defense needs improvement.
"While the final score was disappointing, after the first couple innings, we played pretty even with them," he said. "A lot of the reason they got such a big lead on us, was because of self-inflicted mistakes.
"We had two dropped fly balls in the outfield, a costly third-strike throwing error, and a couple of instances of throwing to the wrong base that cost us.
"That's not to take anything away from Smith-Cotton offensively, but we definitely helped them out. We have to understand that we have to tighten up our defense in order to be able to hang with good teams, and I'm confident we'll be able to do that."
Next up
The Tigers travel to El Dorado Springs, Thursday.