The Class 6 District 6 baseball tournament, hosted by Glendale High School, will be held on May 21, 22, and 24.

The district's competing teams are Branson, Glendale, Joplin, Kickapoo, Neosho, Nixa, Ozark, and Republic.

Nixa (24-10) received the No. 2 seed and is slated to face No. 7 Republic (15-15) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 21, at 4 p.m. The Eagles shut out the Tigers in the regular season matchup 10-0, enacting the mercy rule in five innings. 

Other quarterfinal matchups entail No. 1 Kickapoo (18-16) vs. No. 8 Branson (9-23), No. 4 Neosho (21-9) vs. No. 5 Joplin (14-16), and No. 3 Ozark (19-11) vs. No. 6 Glendale (12-13).

Besides Kickapoo, Nixa knocked off each team in the regular season, defeating Joplin 8-0, Glendale 7-4, Ozark 6-1, Branson 8-5, and Neosho 7-2. The Eagles fell to Kickapoo in extra innings, 5-2.

All Nixa games throughout the district tournament can be viewed on mshsaa.tv for a $10 pay-per-view. Click here for the broadcast link.

A free audio-only cast can be viewed on Nixa Public Schools YouTube. Click here for the audio-cast link.
 

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Recaps

Quarterfinals 
 

In an extra-inning classic, Jackson Gamble's heroics kept Nixa's postseason hopes alive, as the senior tossed 7 2/3 innings on the mound and smoked a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th that lifted the Eagles over Republic 4-2 in the Class 6 District 6 quarterfinals at Glendale.

Both teams tallied nine hits, and Republic made two errors to Nixa's zero, which turned out costly in the game.  

Republic got the early 2-0 lead in the game's opening inning on a two-run homer. From there, it was Gamble's game. He kept the Tigers off the scoreboard while surrendering seven hits and fanning eight batters. Henry Hoesch replaced Gamble with two runners on base and two outs. Hoesch got the much-needed out, as the Tigers grounded out to Parker Mann for the fielder's choice.

Nixa scored its runs in the second and fourth innings. Tyler Yonkers tallied both RBIs on a sacrifice fly, scoring Max Nicoll, and on a single, scoring Wyatt Mabe.

In the 10th, Mabe reached base on a Republic error with one out. Gamble stepped up to the plate next, and with a 3-2 count, he connected on a monstrous home run over the left-field fence that sent Nixa into jubilation and was swarmed at the plate.

Click here to view Gamble's walk-off HR.

Nixa meets Glendale, who knocked off Ozark 5-1, in a rematch of last year's district championship in the semifinals on May 22, at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles won the regular-season contest 7-4 on Glendale's turf.

Kickapoo and Joplin face off in the other semifinal at 4 p.m., who defeated its opponents 10-0 and 6-1, respectively.

Semifinals

Nixa jumped out to a 9-run lead after two innings and ended the game in the fifth inning with an RBI single from Caleb Jones, sending the Eagles to a 10-0 victory and their fourth-straight district championship game against Joplin.

The Eagles tallied first-inning RBIs from Wyatt Vincent, Wyatt Mabe, Adam McKnight, and Caleb Miller. Two runs were accounted for by way of a passed ball. In the second inning, Vincent tripled home Jones, Mabe scored Vincent on a single, and Mabe scored on a passed ball.

Nixa pounded 10 hits in five innings and starting pitcher Tanner Midyett held the Falcons to just one hit, while fanning six batters in the complete game victory.

Championship

It was a battle of the Eagles for the district title on Saturday, May 24, as Nixa faced No. 5-seeded Joplin.

In a game dominated by pitching, Joplin upset Nixa 3-1 to capture the Class 4 District 5 title.

Joplin scored its three runs in the opening inning and kept Nixa off the scoreboard, except for the sixth inning when Caleb Miller singled to left, scoring Caeden Cloud. Miller's single was one of only three hits by the home team on the scoreboard. Joplin managed five hits in the game.

Click here to view video highlights of the game.
Click here to view game photos.