Joe Reid has seen a pattern of success for himself at-bat start with a walk enough that he was in an optimistic mode in his second plate appearance following a walk Tuesday.

After reaching on a walk in the first inning, Reid homered in the third to trigger the Eagles' 6-1 triumph over Branson. The game was moved from Nixa to Branson earlier in the day after rain fell in Christian County while missing Taney County. 

"It's always good getting a walk in your first at-bat," Reid said. "You get to see pitches, see what the pitcher has got and know where he might miss. I was ready to go after that walk. I knew what he was going to throw and made it work."

The Nixa catcher is seeing pitches better than he has all season. Over the Eagles' last three games, he's 5-for-9 with four walks.

"I feel like I'm seeing the ball pretty good and am back to swinging pretty good," Reid said. "I went through a little bit of a rough patch. I was getting too anxious on the off-speed stuff and was getting tied up and not swinging. Now I'm sitting off-speed and letting them surprise me with a fastball. That's working out pretty good for me."

"Joe was a little off on his timing and was letting a lot of good pitches go by for a while," coach Jason Daugherty added. "Now he's starting to be more aggressive and attacking the ball, instead of letting it attack him. He's coming around."

Reid's power at the plate was complemented by winning pitcher's Isaac Mitchell's power on the mound. Mitchell struck out 10 while working 6.1 innings.

Mitchell made what was a 2-1 Eagles lead going into the sixth hold up. He was most proud how he responded when the Pirates put runners on base.

"I pitched well out of the stretch," Mitchell said. "I've never done the greatest out of the stretch, so I was happy with that. 

"In a tight ball game like this, you better be on your 'A game'" Daugherty said. "I'm proud of Isaac because they're a scrappy team and had guys on base. They were one or two hits away from putting us in jeopardy. They were threatening and he hung in there."

Mitchell didn't allow himself to try to overthrow in hopes of putting up a big number on the Branson scoreboard. Pirate Park is unique in that the results of a radar gun timing pitches are posted after each delivery home.

"In the first inning, I did look up and see that," Mitchell said. "My teammates will let me know what's up there, anyway. That's how they are. They saw 87 and that's probably right. If you let all that get to your head, you're not focused. When I get the ball, I like to move on to the next pitch and not worry about anything like that."

BRANSON (ab-r-h-bi) — Henson cf 2-0-1-0, Miller dh 3-0-0-0, Funderburk lf 3-1-1-0, Lemley c 3-0-0-0, Mobley rf 3-0-1-1, Chiasson 2b 3-0-0-0, Ternes 3b 3-0-1-0, Brashears p 3-0-1-0, Strahan ss 3-0-0-0.

NIXA — Avery 3b 4-1-4-1, Long ss 3-2-3-0, Reid c 3-2-2-2, Michel 2b 4–1-1-0, Crabtree rf 1-0-0-0, Scalise lf 3-0-1-2, Chapman dh 4-0-0-0, Engelman 1b 3-0-1-0, Leggett cf 2-0-1-0, Cram cf 0-0-0-0.

Branson 000 100 0 - 1

Nixa        002 004 x - 6 

WP - Mitchell. LP - Brashears. HR - Reid.

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