Just one run came across home plate in Tuesday’s rivalry matchup between Ozark and Nixa, and the run was unearned.
Ozark’s Forrest Barnes and Nixa’s Luke Hauswirth both tossed gems on the mound for their respective teams. One mistake in the bottom of the first inning shaped the outcome of the entire game.
“Well if you were there in that first inning, that was the game,” said Nixa head coach Howard Greenwood.
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Senior Cole Smith singled to center field to get things started for the Tigers in the bottom of the first. After the next batter drew a walk, Smith made an attempt to steal third base. The Nixa catcher tried to throw out the runner, but the throw went past the third baseman and into left field. Smith came around to score, and it turns out that would be enough to seal the deal for Ozark.
“It’s a bad deal for the team that came out on the short end because they played well,” said Ozark head coach Mike Essick. “The game was played clean and I don’t know if there was an error after that. I know we had an error in the outfield, but it didn’t hurt us. So there was an error each way and it was a fast, well-played game. Just happy to be on the winning side of it.”
Nixa threatened Ozark in the top of the first as well. The sophomore pitcher Forrest Barnes began the game with a walk and a base hit, followed by an error by the center fielder to put runners on second and third with no outs. Barnes would pitch around it, though, striking out two batters and forcing a popup to get out of the jam.
Barnes would go on to pitch the complete game with seven strikeouts, three walks and three hits allowed.
“I felt good, I felt confident and all my stuff was working for me,” said Barnes. “I knew every pitch was going to be a strike, and I went out there with that mindset and it served me well… Obviously it wasn’t real sharp there at first. I got my confidence back, the guys made some plays for me and we got out of it, and after that I got rolling.”
Senior Luke Hauswirth was nearly just as good for the Eagles, tossing all six innings for Nixa with five strikeouts and allowing six hits.
“The two kids just threw great,” said Essick. “They did. Both pitchers were dominant and we were just fortunate to put a little pressure on there in the bottom of the first and forced an error. That’s high school baseball to a ‘T’ is trying to put pressure on young guys, even our own. We were fortunate to get a run.”
This win for Ozark marks Essick’s 402nd victory as the Tiger’s head coach. Before the game, his team presented him with a baseball signed by each player to commemorate his 400th win on Saturday.
“Ozark has been a great place to coach and we’ve been blessed with talent,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of good coaches that have helped. I always say the players win the games and lose the games. And they do. You watched tonight, you watched a kid throw a great game and you watched some teammates make some great defensive plays behind him. And I sure didn’t have a thing to do with any of it.”
“He’s been such a great coach,” said Barnes, “such a great role model and expects way more out of us than any other coach would and expects us to be great on and off the field and represent Ozark the way we should.”
Ozark (9-6) and Nixa (8-11) will both play home games on Thursday, Apr. 21. Ozark welcomes in Neosho and Nixa hosts Branson.
There’s always an edge when Ozark and Nixa get together to compete. Barnes relishes the opportunity to beat his team’s arch rival.
“It’s always good to come out here and shut them out and we did that and it was nice,” said Barnes. “Hopefully we can get some momentum from this and keep rolling.”
