Griffons drop road contest to Outlaws

The Nevada Griffons suffered their second loss of the season, falling 2-1 to the Joplin Outlaws Wednesday night in Joplin.

The victory made it three in a row at home for the Outlaws, as they improved to 4-1 while the Griffons fell to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in MINK League-play.

The Outlaws went in front early, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning off of Fort Scott Community College product Bobby Johnson.

The run was unearned, as an infield error allowed Joplin's Brent Jones to score, handing the Outlaws a 1-0 lead.

The Griffons responded in the top of the fourth inning, tying the game. Kainalu Pitoy led off the frame with a walk, and was later brought home by a Justin Bennett single, knotting the contest 1-1.

With runners on second and third, Outlaws starting pitcher Eric Smith escaped the jam via a strike out of Tanner Wetrich.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth, when Joplin secured the walk-off victory.

Nevada's Adam Eskil, a Walla, Walla, Wash., native, issued Drew Tipton a walk to open up the bottom of the ninth. After the lead-off walk, Eskil was replaced on the mound by Reid Bukoswki. At the plate, Sam Vega laid down a successful sacrifice bunt, moving the speedy Tipton up 90-feet on the base paths to second base.

The walk-off hit came courtesy of a Brent Jones RBI-single to right-field, scoring Tipton from second base.

For Nevada, Ethaniel Valdez was 3-for-5, increasing his batting average to .476, while Pitoy was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Bennett notched a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with the Griffons lone RBI. Eskil was tagged with the loss.

Extra frames

As of press time, the Griffons Thursday night home contest with Sedalia was tied 1-1 heading into the top of the 15th inning.