Penn reflects on Tigers season-ending loss to Carl Junction

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Things didn’t go as planned for fifth-year Nevada Tigers’ head baseball coach Danny Penn and his squad in the Class 4 District 12 semifinals Monday night in Joplin, as the second seeded Tigers were defeated 8-5 by third-deeded Carl Junction.

“We were tight once the game started,” noted Penn, adding that Nevada looked sharp during its pregame infield and outfield warmups.

“I thought we looked like we were focused and ready, but giving up four runs in the first on two errors was tough, especially when you consider they only had one hard-hit ball (single) in the entire inning,” said Penn. “It looked like we were trying to not make a mistake rather than being confident and wanting to make a play.”

Nevada trailed 6-1 entering the third inning.

“(Starting pitcher) Payton (Bright) did a great job of limiting the damage and keeping us in the game,” Penn said. “The score does not speak to how well he pitched. He was constantly trying to pitch out of trouble that usually was not his doing. I know he felt like he let his team down a little bit, but I’m so proud of how hard he competed. He gave us a chance to come back.”

Penn said he was pleased with the Tigers’ offensive performance, squaring off against starting pitcher Dason Boren.

“I thought that offensively, this was one of our better games,” Penn said. “Tyler (Ketterman), Jarrett (Owen), and Peyton (Denney) all had multi-hit games and we put a few balls in the gaps. We finished with 11 hits and I thought we had a lot of good swings.”

In addition to six errors, also hurting Nevada was its inability to plate runners in scoring position, as the Tigers left 12 on base for the contest. Boren was able to escape bases loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fifth, Nevada loaded the bases with no outs, but was unable to score.

“Unfortunately, most of our good swings came early in innings or with no one on base,” Penn said. “When we had runners on, and we had a lot, we just weren’t able to get the big hits.

“If we get a couple of hits in those (bases loaded) situations, the momentum swings and I like our chances. It just didn’t happen, but I loved the fact that our guys stayed in it the whole time and fought to the end.”

Nevada finishes the season 10-9 overall.

“Finishing with three losses to end the season was tough,” said Penn. “I thought that early in the year, our pitching kept us in a lot of games while our bats struggled to catch up. Our defense was solid most games, and it’s unfortunate that our last game of the year was not a reflective showing of the quality of defense I feel (we played this year).”

Penn continued: “The end of a season hits you like a ton of bricks and its tough to realize that it’s all over so quickly. We had great leadership from our seniors this year. Tyler and Myles (McNeley) stepped into vocal leadership roles, which doesn’t necessarily come natural for them. All of our seniors were great lead-by-example guys, and we’ll definitely miss them, not just as baseball players, but as solid young men in our program. All four of our seniors: Tyler, Myles, Payton, and Robert (Hoskins) I feel, are likely to be successful in life.

“We played a number of young guys this year in roles that maybe they weren’t entirely ready for. Being a 14 or 15 year old kid facing 18-year-olds can be tough and intimidating. I’m proud of how our guys competed and all year strove to get better. This year’s experience will be nothing but helpful for them in the coming years.”

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