The Nixa Eagles’ postseason magic ran out a little too soon.
After pulling four consecutive upsets in the Class 5 playoffs, Nixa’s bid for a final four appearance came up one game short in a 9-1 loss to No. 4 Jefferson City at US Baseball Park on Thursday evening.
“What had carried us in districts and sectionals turned on us today,” Nixa coach Howard Greenwood said. “We didn’t make the plays. We gave them 13 freebies—walks, hits, and errors combined. They got big hits when they needed them.”
Nixa (15-19) hit five batters, walked six, and had two others reach on errors. Jefferson City (27-6) made them pay.
A throwing error in the second led to a run. A dropped fly ball in the third led to three. Two bases loaded walks in the fifth brought in two more.
“Those are plays that are probably made nine of 10 times,” Jeff City coach Brian Ash said, “but in a high stakes game like this, tensions are there. We wanted to capitalize on (those mistakes) and we did.”
Nixa had chances to write a different script on Thursday but couldn’t find a clutch hit. Trailing by a run in the third, Nixa had two on and none out. Stephen Belcher lined what fans hoped would be an RBI double down the left field line, but the ball just squeaked foul. Two pitches later, the Eagles’ lead runner got picked off of second base, and Jays’ starting pitcher Jacob Weirich escaped unscathed.
The Eagles loaded the bases in the fifth with one out, but Weirich got back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
“They made all the plays,” Greenwood said. “We didn’t lose to a lesser team. They beat us. We helped them, but they beat us.”
Weirich went the distance, allowing one run on five hits in the complete game win. He struck out six and walked four.
“I hate to be critical of him, but that was probably his worst performance he’s had all year,” said Ash. “To give up only one run and not be sharp, that’s pretty good. He got behind in the count. He normally doesn’t walk guys. His fastball was a little flat today, but he just goes out there and competes.”
Grant Wood (2-for-4) and Kade Franks (2-for-3) each had multi-hit efforts for the Jays, who saw 22 of its 36 batters reach base. All nine batters in the lineup reached safely, and seven had hits as Jefferson City chased Nixa starter Luke Hauswirth after only 3.2 innings.
Jefferson City now advances to its first final four since 1992. They’ll meet the winner of Saint Louis University High and Lindberg in the semifinals.
“It’s been a long time,” Ash said. “There’s a proud history with this program. To have a group of kids that have dedicated themselves to go out and (get us back to the final four) is pretty amazing.”
As for Nixa, a team that started four sophomores now has some valuable postseason experience it can build on for the future.
“We talk about the excitement and intensity of district play,” Greenwood said. “Our upperclassmen went through it two years ago, experiencing all the success we had. I think our seniors that were around then did a great job leading us the last two weeks. They carried us. Parker Dent and Luke Hauswirth … they did a great job putting the rest of (the team) on their back. It just didn’t work out today.”
Jefferson City 9, Nixa 1
Nixa 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2
Jefferson City 0 1 3 2 3 0 X 9 9 1
WP-Weirich
LP-Hauswirth
Nixa: Dopp, Hammit, Murphy (2B), Kinser, Belcher
Jefferson City: Weirich, Bohlken, Wood 2, Strobel (2B), Franks 2 (2B), Hirschvogel, Meyer
