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Nevada baseball defeats Fort Scott at home
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
"If you just read the box score, it would look deceiving."
Those words from Nevada Tigers head baseball coach Danny Penn could have been called a substantial understatement following Tuesday's game against the Tigers of Fort Scott. Outhitting Nevada 10-6 and putting a small army of runners on base should have made for a dominant day for Fort Scott, but that was simply not the case as Nevada took the victory by a final score of 4-0.
Tuesday's game was originally scheduled to be played in Fort Scott, but Sunday's storms made both fields in Fort Scott unplayable. With power lines down at the high school field and hail damage at the college field, Fort Scott and Nevada High School officials had no choice but to move the game to Lyons Stadium.
"Fort Scott's a good baseball team," Penn said. "When we were expecting to go over there, we knew we'd be in for a good baseball game. Coming over here, we're a little bit more comfortable at home, obviously, but all the same, we knew that Fort Scott's a good team."
It was clear right from the start that it would be a fairly even game as both squads were able to get runners on in the opening frame. Nevada, however, was able to make just a little bit better use of those runners when Lane Ketterman knocked in Brett Norton with a fielder's choice groundout.
Fort Scott had little trouble getting runners on throughout the early innings, but simply couldn't bring them around. On two different occasions, Nevada starter Cole Sanderson found himself having to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam and was able to do so both times.
"Cole made pitches when he had to," Penn said. "He was able to get ahead, he was able to get early outs in the inning without getting into trouble early."
Through the first four innings of the contest, Fort Scott had a total of 10 runners, but still showed nothing for it on the scoreboard. By game's end, Sanderson had pitched his way out of four different jams that featured multiple baserunners, stranding a total of 12.
"Cole wasn't quite as efficient with his pitches as he was down in Carthage last week," Penn said. "Being at 58-60 through three and getting through the next four innings in, you know, under 40 pitches, he was much more efficient there at the end."
The Tigers struggled throughout the day on the offensive side of the ball, managing just three hits through the first five innings. Those hits came at opportune times in the first and fifth innings, though, allowing the Tigers to plate a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead into the sixth.
"The pitcher today, Knopp, he did a good job of keeping us off balance," Penn said. "He didn't have a great curveball, but it was sharp enough and he threw it hard enough that it kind of fell off the table there at the last second and it was just enough to keep our hitters off balance."
The Tigers finally found their rhythm in the sixth inning, putting together their best offensive showing of the day. In that inning alone, the Tigers doubled their hit total for the game and with it, their run total.
Grant Wolfe and Morgan Long each tallied RBI hits in the frame, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead heading into the seventh inning.
"I was happy with the sixth inning in the sense that we were playing smart, offensive baseball," Penn said. "We hit behind the runners to move them."
That was where the scoring ended, ultimately giving the Tigers a 4-0 victory.
Though the Tigers didn't get much going offensively in the contest, there wasn't a shortage of defensive fireworks. On two different occasions, center fielder Lane Ketterman saved Sanderson and the Tigers with spectacular diving catches that could easily have been hits.
"The first one, off the bat, I thought Lane had it," Penn said. "The second one, I wasn't so sure because I thought it was going to tail into that right center field gap.
"He just closed on it, you know. It was fun to watch from the dugout and it got the guys pumped up."
With the victory, the Tigers improved to 7-2 on the year and will be back in action on Friday, hosting the Indians of Seneca High School in a rematch of a game the Tigers won by a final score of 9-1 in the Bill O'Dell Tournament at Carthage last week.
"I'm not sure who they're going to throw against us. Seneca's always another solid baseball team. They know how to play the game the right way," Penn said.
"They're very baseball smart, for lack of a better term. And so, we definitely expect another good baseball game."
First pitch in Friday's varsity game is set for 5 p.m., at Lyons Stadium.