In a showdown of two Summit Conference teams, Fordland redeemed itself after a heartbreaking 4-0 loss to Conway earlier this week by erupting for six runs in a single inning to beat Norwood 6-1 on Thursday at home.
But first, Norwood was quick to get on the board with AJ Barnes’ first inning single, later scoring an earned run.
Norwood head coach Trent Oxenreider said, “I felt like we came out ready to go. We had some bad breaks that went against us. One inning really cost us, probably, the game.”
The inning Oxenreider referred to was the fourth – Fordland’s ticket to the victory, and filled with RBI doubles.
With bases loaded, Michael Hart knew the pressure was on. Ready for the moment, he hit an RBI double to bring in Hunter Burks (substitution for Corey Sampaio) and Tyler Letterman to get a slim 2-1 lead.
Soon after, Cole Watson hit an RBI double, allowing Ethan Grandel to score and make it 3-1 in the Eagles’ favor.
Watson added another run with Kyle Gann’s RBI double – who would soon steal third on an error.
Another RBI double from pitcher Blake Hyder allowed both Gann and Noah Sparks to score, giving the Eagles a comfortable 6-1 lead.
Fordland head coach Garrett Keith said, “We did a lot of things right that inning that we’ve struggled with in the past.”
While Hyder’s performance was both remarkable on the mound and the fourth inning, he rolled his ankle at second base and was out the remainder of the game.
Like the kickoff of the six-run inning, No. 2 Hart stepped in to put the pressure on for the final three innings, and had a total of ten first pitch strikes and allowed four hits.
“It was a day where he wasn’t going to be pitching, and he came in and did extremely well,” said Keith.
Oxenreider said, “We came back and tried to answer, we just didn’t get a big hit. It just came down to them being better in the crunch than we were.”
Keith said of his Fordland team, “There’s a lot of improvement, even from last year. We just talked about how we’ve already won as many games this spring as we did all of last spring.”
The Eagles’ 2014-15 record was 9-15.
“We’re doing a lot of things right, and we’re giving ourselves the chance to win every game that we play,” Keith added.
The Norwood team, on the other hand, is facing some early season struggles.
Oxenreider said, “The kids are frustrated. I’m frustrated. We feel like we’re doing good things at times, we’re just not getting it done in the end. Tuesday we weren’t really there. It was a long bus ride – no excuse – but I think Tuesday was probably a letdown for us mentally. In the championship of the Hartville Tournament, we competed but things went against us and we didn’t respond really well. Our goal is to just keep tougher and compete.”
He added, “Right now we’re just not getting the job done at times that we need to. They’re still good baseball players; they’re just not getting it done.”
According to MSHSAA, Norwood (7-6, 1-1) will battle another Summit Conference foe, Gainesville, April 25.
Fordland (9-5, 2-1) is set to host district opponent Spokane at 4:30 p.m. Friday. The Eagles are also prepared for an eventful weekend, where they’ll head south to play another district opponent, Galena, as well as Southwest (Washburn).
BOX SCORE
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Fordland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 10 | 2 |
| Norwood | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
