By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Republic and Joplin took the field on Thursday as the top two baseball teams in the Central Ozark Conference while also jockeying for position in a tough district.
After Ryker Harrington blasted a two-run home run and Gavin Walker added a two-run double, the visiting Tigers had made their case as Republic earned a 5-3 victory and clinched at least a share of the COC title.
The Tigers (15-6, 7-0) are the only unbeaten team left in the conference with just two games remaining and have won eight in a row. Joplin fell to 13-8, 5-2 with the loss and Nixa lost at Webb City to fall to 16-4, 4-2.
“The kids were hungry,” Republic coach Curt Plotner said. “They wanted to come out and compete. Not a situation that our kids have had a chance to be in but they were ready for the challenge.”
Republic got things going in the top of the third when Gavyn Beckner doubled and Harrington followed with a mammoth home run over an imposing right field wall to make it a 2-1 game.
“He’s really strong and he’s hit some balls like that a few times this year,” Plotner said.
The Tigers struck again in the fourth with Walker’s bases-loaded double to deep right field to make it 4-1. It came after Brady Usgaard singled through the left side, Bryce Messier walked and Richard Potter reached on a bunt single to third.
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“Gavin there in the nine hole with a huge two-run double,” Plotner said. “We’ve been having really good at bats all year up and down the lineup and got two more big ones today.”
Joplin, which scored a run in the first when David Fiscus drew a bases-loaded walk, made things closer with a pair of runs in the fourth. The first came on another bases-loaded walk, this time by Bodee Carlson. One pitch earlier he lined a ball just inches foul down the left-field line that would have scored at least two runs.
The walk forced Republic to make a pitching change, replacing starter Vincent Pyeatt with Cole Iles. He got a ground ball from Fielding Campbell, but Campbell beat the throw from third base and Ethan Guilford scored to make it 4-3.
That was it for the Eagles, though. Iles, in 3.1 innings in relief, allowed just two hits and struck out three. Pyeatt allowed three hits and was charged with three runs in 3.2 innings of work. He struck out five but walked six.
“Cole Iles came in and did an outstanding job for us and Vince did a good job to start the game,” Plotner said. “Those two gave us a chance to win.”
The Tigers added their fifth run in the sixth. Harrington singled past third base and scored following a single by Kyle Hill; Harrington was briefly caught in a rundown between third and home but scored on a Joplin error.
Joplin recorded just five hits but drew six walks and left the bases loaded in the first and fourth innings.
“The difference was they found a way to cash in on some opportunities and made some plays in critical situations and quite honestly, we didn’t,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “When you’re playing good teams in big games, people talk about little things. There’s really no little things. There’s winning things and we didn’t do the winning things today both from an execution standpoint and situationally that we need to do to win those games.”
Joplin had the bases loaded with just one out in the first but scored just the one run. Pyeatt was even behind 2-0 in one of those at bats but got three straight swings and misses for a strikeout. A fielder’s choice ended the inning.
The Eagles had a runner picked off in the second, stranded three in the fourth and then saw 10 of 11 retired to end the game.
“We’ve got to get more there,” Wolf said. “We need someone to have a competitive at bat and understand we don’t have to do too much. We can string a couple hits together and score three or four runs just as easy as we can do it with one swing. We still haven’t quite figured that out yet.”
“We’ve had a number of ball games just like that,” he said. “Close games we’ve lost that we felt we had some opportunities and it was one big hit away. We’ll keep working and find a way to get that one big hit as we move forward.”
Campbell got the start on the mound for Joplin and pitched three innings, allowing eight hits, four runs and striking out three. Submariner Josh Harryman pitched four innings in relief and allowed one hit, no earned runs and struck out five.
Harryman entered the game with runners at second and third and nobody out. He struck out the first two, loaded the bases with an intentional walk and ended the inning by striking out the side.
He escaped another bases-loaded jam in the fifth, this time with one out, by catching a pop up and then getting a grounder to third. He ended the sixth with a runner on third.
“A submariner they’ve got to elevate the ball or it’s really hard to square balls up and he did a great job of keeping it down in the zone and we weren’t able to get a lot of good swings on him,” Plotner said.
“I don’t think Josh was as sharp as he’s been at times this season but he competed hard,” Wolf said. “We were in a situation where he wasn’t going to be able to come back for us on Saturday anyway, just pitch-count wise, so we were going to try and get as much from him as we could and he ends up keeping us in the game.”
Hill was 2-for-4 for Republic. Harrington was 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and two driven in. Messier was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run and Walker was 1-for-3 with two driven in.
Carlson, Campbell, Kohl Cooper, Alex Curry and Fiscus collected singles for Joplin. Carlson walked twice, scored and drove in a run.
Republic will wrap up the COC slate against Nixa and Webb City next week.
“We’ve got plenty more challenges up ahead in the coming weeks so just stay focused and keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Plotner told his team.
