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Tigers drill O’Hara in twinbill, fall to St. Pius X
The Nevada Tigers have had an eventful two days at Lyons Stadium, picking up a pair of convincing victories over Archbishop O’Hara on Monday, before suffering a 6-1 setback to St. Pius X Tuesday evening.
The trio of West Central Conference contests brings Nevada’s record to 10-7 overall and 5-5 in WCC-play, as the Tigers conclude their conference slate.
O’Hara twinbill
The Tigers showed what they’re capable of offensively on Senior Night against an overmatched O’Hara squad, who entered Monday’s doubleheader 1-19 overall and 0-7 in the West Central Conference.
The Tigers won the opener 15-1 in a five inning contest, and the proceeded to roll to a 15-2 victory in the nightcap.
Junior Tyler Ketterman had a monster day at the dish, going a combined 6-for-6, which included a home run, triple, double, three singles, five RBIs and six runs scored, while raising his batting average over .400.
On the mound in the opener, senior Myles McNeley needed just 59 pitches to notch the victory, striking out four while allowing an earned run over four innings of work. Senior Colton Shrewsbury pitched the fifth. McNeley was also 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored.
Other Tigers with huge offensive performances in the opener, were: junior Braeden Hinton, finishing 4-for-4 with four RBIs; Jarrett Owen, 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs; and Peyton Denney, 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
“Tyler, Braeden, Myles, and Jarrett all had big days,” said Tigers’ head coach Danny Penn.
“Peyton had some nice at-bats as well. Between the two games, Tyler hit for the cycle. I was proud of the boys for taking solid approaches to the plate. Sometimes it’s tempting to try to hit the ball 500 feet, but our swings were controlled and resulted in a lot of base hits.”
In the nightcap, Owen tossed three innings en route to the win, allowing a first-inning earned run, while striking out three. Freshman Dalton Gayman worked one inning of relief.
“It took Jarrett a couple of batters to settle in,” Penn said, “but when he did, he put it into cruise control. He only threw 39 pitches in his three innings of work. We were able to get Dalton on the bump to get his first varsity pitching experience.”
Offensively in the nightcap, senior Robert Hoskins picked up his varsity hit of the season, an infield single, while McNeley had another three hit performance. Meanwhile, Owen was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Sophomore Will Johnson also recorded a multi-hit game, while Logan Armstrong was 1-for-2 with two runs scored. Grant Miller added a base hit and run.
Penn added that he was pleased with the Tigers’ play in the field.
“I thought defensively we played very well,” he said. “We made the plays in front of us, turned a double-play and threw a baserunner out trying to steal third.”
Senior Night festivities
Nevada’s five seniors were honored on the field in-between games, as the parents of Myles McNeley, Tyler Ketterman, Payton Bright, Colton Shrewsbury, and Robert Hoskins joined on the field to celebrate the seniors’ accomplishments.
“We were able to recognize and celebrate our five senior baseball players tonight,” said Penn, “which is always special for our coaching staff. Personally, these kids were the first group that I had in class (seventh-grade in 2011), so I’ve been fortunate enough to see them grow into five outstanding young men. We know they have bright futures ahead of them.”
Penn continued: “All of them got at least one hit throughout the evening. We had solid pitching performances in both games. Myles did a great job of letting his defense work behind him in game one. Cole (Shrewsbury) came in and did a nice job of mixing in his off-speed pitches to close out the first game.”
Warriors 6, Tigers 1
With Tuesday’s contest scoreless entering the third, St. Pius (7-9 overall) broke out offensively, plating all six of its runs, fueled by a Jack Lewis RBI double, as the Warriors grabbed a 6-0 lead.
On the mound, Armstrong was replaced by Ketterman, who worked three scoreless innings.
“Tyler did a good job of minimizing the damage,” Penn said.”He gave our offense a chance to get back in the game, but we weren’t able to piece anything together.”
Nevada’s lone run of the contest came in the sixth, via McNeley’s sacrifice fly, scoring Ketterman.
Nevada struggled at the plate against St. Pius starting pitcher Jack Stoddard, who allowed only two base-runners through the first three innings. Warriors’ relief pitcher Lou Biscari finished out the final three innings.
“Credit to St. Pius’ pitchers,” said Penn. “They located the fastball well and kept us off-balance with the curveball.”
Further complicating matters for Nevada, were its three errors.
“We gave St. Pius extra opportunities and they took advantage of them,” said Penn. “If we come out with this lack of effort in a district tournament game –– we might be one-and-done.”
Penn continued: “I’m very disappointed by our lack of effort and our lack of spirit tonight. But I do hope that we can take some positives out of this game.”
UP NEXT
Weather permitting, the Tigers conclude their regular-season tonight with a non-conference match-up with the Pittsburg (Kan.) Purple Dragons. The first pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m.