By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Missing the enrollment cut for Class 2 baseball by three students, the Marionville Comets moved up to Class 3 this spring.
Fortunately, for the Comets, their pitching has also taken a step up.
Marionville got five innings of four-hit, one-run baseball from sophomore starter Jordan Williams on Saturday afternoon.
Jeremy Vickers added a grand slam in the third inning as the Comets (13-3 overall) defeated Weaubleau, 7-1.
“I knew our pitching would be improved from last season. But, we’re pitching, I think, a lot better than what I (expected),” said Comets coach Jason Grose. “Defense is getting better and better, and we’ve been hitting the ball well all year. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Williams shut down the Weaubleau lineup after allowing an RBI single to Cadan Kauffman in the first inning. Williams struck out seven and gave up two walks.
The key for Williams, according to Grose: locating off-speed pitches.
“His curveball was on, his fastball was good, he was throwing a good changeup,” Grose said. “We knew Weaubleau was pretty aggressive at the plate, so we wanted to throw a lot of off-speed stuff. He did a good job of spotting both of his off-speed pitches.”
Earlier in the day, Weaubleau fell 7-5 against host, and Class 3 school, New Covenant Academy.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
On the bright side: Weaubleau (11-8 overall) led 5-1 midway through that game and has yet to lose against other Class 1 competition.
The Tigers have a pair of one-run losses to Skyline (14-5 overall) and also played Marion C. Early/Morrisville (15-1 overall) to an 8-6 loss.
“Our schedule, we’ve really beefed it up,” said Weaubleau coach Chad Foster. “We wanted to face better pitching to prepare us for the postseason.”
Marionville, behind a double, single and a Weaubleau error, loaded the bases in the third inning. That brought up Vickers, who crushed a fastball over the fence in center field.
“He’s been hitting the ball really well lately and really driving the baseball,” Grose said. “He sat on a fastball and hammered it.”
Marionville added to its lead with a Lake High RBI single in the fourth inning. Williams and Earnie Larkin had back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth.
The Comets ended their doubleheader Saturday with a game against New Covenant Academy. The teams could meet again next month in the Class 3 sectional round should they advance from districts.
“We’re playing good baseball,” Grose said. “Today’s a good test. (New Covenant Academy) will be our biggest test so far to see how good we are.”
Weaubleau returns to action Monday against another Class 3 school: El Dorado Springs (10-3 overall).
“Whenever we got done with our schedule, I looked at it, sat back and thought that we’d have to play pretty well to be above .500 to be honest,” Foster said. “Right or wrong, that was my thinking. We’re kind of where I thought we’d be. I’m not happy with it but I’m not upset with it, either.
“Our thinking was, ‘Even though our record may not be pretty, we’ll be better for it in the end.’”
