Eagles baseball traveled to US Ballpark on Tuesday evening to take on the Rogersville Wildcats in the Branson Lael Lead-Off Tournament.
Nixa nabbed the lead late in the game in an 11-6 victory over Rogersville. The game was tied at six with Nixa batting in the top of the tenth when Rylan Michel doubled on a 3-1 count, scoring one run.
Both pitching staffs had their hands full, frequently dealing with runners on base. Nixa collected 12 hits and Logan-Rogersville had eight.
Nixa's Alek Johnson led off the game with a double on fly ball to left. Jaret Nelson scored Johnson on a hard hit ground ball to third which caused an error and allowed Johnson to score.
Rogersville opened up their scoring in the first inning when they got their lead off hitter to walk. The next batter advanced him to second with a sac bunt. The following batter walked and then Nixa committed an error on a fly ball in the outfield allowing a run to score, and the game was all knotted up at 1-1. Rogersville would tack on one more run in their half of the inning and take the lead 2-1.
Rogersillve upped their lead to 3-1 in the bottom off the second inning.
Nixa trimmed the Rogersville lead to 3-2 in the top of the third. With two outs, Quinn Gundelfinger doubled to center and Nelson drove him in with a triple to center.
Rogersville got their lead off hitter on with a single to kick off the bottom of the fourth. The next two batters would ground out. A wild pitch by Nixa allowed the runner to score and Rogersville led 4-2 heading into the fifth.
Nixa responded back in their half of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. Walks by Gundelfinger and Nelson gave Nixa two runners on base at first and second with one out, and a wild pitch by Rogersville advanced them to second and third with Sam Russo at the plate. Russo smoked a double to center and scored Gundelfinger and Nelson to knot it all up.
That would be the final scoring for both teams in the scheduled seven innings.
Nixa took the led in the top of the eighth. Ryan Retone walked to kick off the inning and Blake Pendergrass moved Retone to second with a single to left. Retone would score with two outs on a wild pitch by Rogersville giving Nixa a 5-4 lead.
A single and double by Rogersville in their half of the inning tied the game at 5-5.
The next inning Nixa regained the lead with two outs when Nelson doubled to center and Russo scored him with a double of his own to center. Russo's RBI double gave Nixa a 6-5 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Logan-Rogersville tied things up at six. With two outs, Rogersville walked, singled and doubled, scoring the lead runner.
Nixa won the game in the top of the tenth on a two out rally when the Eagles exploded for five runs. John Gholson started the inning by reaching base on an error by the second baseman. Pendergrass laid down a bunt to advance Gholson to second. Jerris Thornton followed Pendergrass with a walk. With runners at first and second and two outs, Nixa decided to pinch hit and brought up freshman Rylan Michel to the plate. Michel smoked a line drive double to center field and scored the runner at second, giving Nixa a 7-6 lead. Another wild pitch by Rogersville scored Thornton, upping the lead to 8-6. The following batter walked and loaded the bases. Nelson was the next batter was hit by the Rogersville pitcher which then scored a Nixa runner and advanced the Eagles lead to 9-6. Retone capped off the scoring for the Eagles, and eventually the game, when he hit a ground ball to second and reached base by an error but two runs still scored.
Nixa took a comfortable 11-6 lead heading into the bottom of the tenth.
With Pendergrass on the mound looking to seal the victory for the Eagles, he did just that. Pendergrass struck out the first batter and got the next to ground out. The next Rogersville batter doubled but Pendegrass got the final out of the game when the Rogersville batter grounded out to first.
Hardy Dougan got the start for Nixa. Dougan surrendered four runs on one hit over three and two-thirds innings, striking out one. Parker Bridges and Pendergrass relieved Dougan. Bridges pitched a scoreless two and one-thirds inning, striking out three. Pendergrass, the winning pitcher, pitched four innings, surrendering two runs on five hits while striking out four.
Nixa's offensive totaled 12 hits, led by Gundelfinger, Nelson, and Russo. Gundelfinger had a double, two walks and three runs scored. Nelson went two-for-four, including a triple and double with two RBI's and three runs scored. Russo had two hits in the game with four RBI's.
The win is the third straight (3-0) for Nixa who takes the diamond again on March 25 traveling to Branson.
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
R |
H |
E |
| NIXA (3-0) |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
11 |
12 |
3 |
| ROGERSVILLE (1-3) |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
8 |
4 |
