Tigers drop pair in Bolivar

The Nevada Tiger baseball team absorbed a pair of losses on Monday —falling to Ava, 4-3, and Bolivar, 6-0. The games were originally scheduled as part of the Ash Grove Classic. The tournament, however, was canceled, with the contests being moved to Bolivar.

The losses move Nevada to 3-18 overall.

After being tabbed as the starting pitcher in their previous contest three days earlier, Nevada junior Noah Cheaney returned to the mound for Monday’s opener against Ava. Cheaney yielded a pair of runs in the first, with his only other hiccup coming in the fourth — as Ava tacked on two more, and led, 4-0.

“Noah was a little shaky in the first, but then settled in, and did a great job,” said Nevada head coach, Danny Penn. “When his mechanics were right, he was hitting his spots and working ahead in the count. He induced a lot of weak ground balls, and for the most part, we made the plays behind him.”

The Tigers struck back in the top of the fifth, as Grant Miller’s two-RBI base-knock, and a Lane McNeley RBI-single, sliced the deficit to a run.

Nevada, however, was unable to get to Ava relief pitcher Zack Miller. Miller entered in the sixth, tossing two scoreless innings en route to the save. Ava starter Caleb Johnson notched the pitching victory, striking out eight over six innings.

Cheaney was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs (one earned), while striking out five and walking one over six innings of work.

“Ava threw their ace against us, and he was able to throw multiple pitches wherever he wanted,” noted Penn. “Unfortunately, our offense was slow to get going, and that made every miscue hurt a little bit more. We had some untimely errors, that led to runners scoring, and a big call at third base that went against us.”

Added Penn: Peyton (Denney) had a nice game at the plate, going 3-for-3, and Lane had another multi-hit game (2-for-4) at the top of our lineup. We had a lot of good swings in the (latter)half of the game, but just weren’t able to scratch the tying run across late. Ava is a solid team, and we were with them right to the end. In a season like this, a game like this shows growth, and our strides may be easy to overlook when just looking at our record.”

In the nightcap, Bolivar scratched across three runs in the second, and three in the fifth, accounting for the final 6-0 margin. Penn said he was pleased with the performances of NHS starting pitcher Miller, and relief pitcher Dalton Gayman.

“Grant made a lot of quality pitches, especially early in the count, to get us into favorable counts,” Penn said. “Unfortunately, he left some two-strike pitches up, and in the strike zone, where Bolivar’s hitters could put good swings on them. In (Bolivar’s) three-run second, their two big hits both came with two-strikes, and on pitches that should not have been barreled (up).”

Penn said Gayman was sharp.

“He was throwing hard and confident, and it’s something we’re hopeful he can build on the rest of this week,” Penn said.