The numbers reflected Isaac Mitchell's belief in himself. 

Nixa's 5-1 victory at Kickapoo on Monday gave a good indication of the trust Mitchell had in his pitching. More telling of his faith in his fastball in particular was his pitch count of 88.

The sophomore southpaw struck out six and walked one.

"I'm happy with my pitch count," Mitchell said. "You can't get much better than that. I felt efficient. I spotted my fast ball better than I ever have. I was hitting my spots and got the job done."

"He was efficient with his fastball and his off-speed," batterymate Joe Reid added. "He was pretty much spot-on. I remember calling for one high fast ball that he left over the middle. That was about it and it didn't end up hurting us. He was challenging them with his fast ball and they weren't doing anything with it. We kept going back to it."

Little wonder Mitchell was so confident in his fast ball. His heat had a little extra on it compared to his other outings this season.

"Isaac had a little more 'velo' than he's had recently," Nixa coach Jason Daugherty said. "I wish I could bottle that up. He's always going to be good. When he's like that, he's really good." 

"I feel like I was throwing pretty hard today," Mitchell said. "There was a little more motivation against this team to pump it in there, especially against some kids I know. There's a lot of kids from Kickapoo that I know and personally wanted to beat. I know about 10-11 of them and have played with a lot of them. I've played with them for either one day or five years."

Well-renowned Chiefs center-fielder Mason Auer put up Kickapoo's lone run with an RBI-double in the seventh inning. But Mitchell got the best of him in Auer's first two at-bats, including a fourth-inning strikeout on three pitches.

Both Mitchell and Reid work out with Auer regularly at 2K Sports Training in Nixa.

"I pumped it up there against him," Mitchell said. "I wanted to get him really bad. When he's up there, you're thinking, 'It's go time. Let's do what we have to do to get him out.'"

"It was fun to play against him and see who has the bragging rights for a little bit," Reid said.

For the full game recap, click here.