By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD — The baseball season is less than two weeks old, but inclement weather has already forced Glendale to cancel or postpone five of its games.
All the changes have made it hard for the Falcons to fully show off their depth and power. Hitting is contagious, after all, and it’s hard to settle into a rhythm when you’re not playing.
They got the opportunity on Thursday — and put the entire Ozark Conference on notice.
Brooks Kettering and Mark Ross each hit three-run homers during Glendale’s explosive first inning, and the Falcons rode the momentum to an 8-4 victory over archrival Kickapoo in a battle of Ozark Conference title contenders at Neil Pittman Field.
The Falcons scored all eight of their runs in the first inning — all of them with two outs — giving them the cushion they needed to withstand three separate Kickapoo rallies and improve to 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in conference play.
For a Glendale team that returned all but one full-time starter from last year’s 25-win squad, it was a key early victory in their quest for an outright Ozark Conference championship. The Falcons clinched a share of the title last year.
“I think we really found our bats today,” Kettering said. “We had 10 hits. Our approach was really nice. We went to opposite field, middle, pull. I think it’s just going to keep improving as we pick up more games.”
Kettering, a senior Southeast Missouri commit, and Ross, a junior who will play at Central Arkansas, provided all the offense Glendale needed with two swings of their bats.
Ross came to the plate with the bases loaded, but Kettering scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. Moments later, Kickapoo starter Brian Wamsher threw Ross a curveball that Ross drove over the outfield fence.
“It hung a little bit, so I mashed it,” Ross said.
But the Falcons weren’t done yet.
Kellen Lindstrom scored on a Brayden Biggers single, then Kettering drove a 2-0 pitch over the batter’s eye to give Glendale an eight-run advantage.
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“I love 2-0 counts,” Kettering said. “That’s the pitch that I really want to hunt. I wanted to stay through the ball. I didn’t want to yank it and roll over. I just wanted to at least get a hit, but I saw it was elevated and I drove it as hard as I could to center.”
The Falcons pounded out five hits in the first inning, capitalizing on two walks and a hit batsman to pad their lead. At one point, six straight batters came around to score.
“We’ve talked about just passing the baton down the line – no matter how many outs there are in the inning,” Falcons coach Jim Julian said. “Just getting it to the next guy. There are three outs in an inning, so you might as well try to use all of them.”
“They hit everything we threw up there,” Kickapoo coach Jason Howser added. “One through nine, they can swing it very well. I thought we left some pitches up a little bit and they made us pay for it on the other end of it – which is what a good-hitting team will do.”
But the time the Falcons returned to the plate, the Chiefs had cut the deficit in half.
Cael McCarville, Nate Owen and Chase Hamme hit back-to-back-to-back RBI singles off Kettering during the bottom of the first inning, with Owen’s leading to a pair of runs.
But Kettering recovered to retire the next two batters, ending the threat. Kettering allowed just one hit over the next three innings.
Kickapoo’s Colin Muldoon took over pitching duties in the top of the second inning and threw five scoreless innings of relief, setting the stage for two late Kickapoo rallies.
The Chiefs brought the tying run to the plate in the fifth and seventh innings against Glendale reliever Kaleb Julian.
They loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Julian induced an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play to escape the scare. The Chiefs loaded the bases again in the seventh inning, but Julian got a Kickapoo batter to pop out to shortstop to seal the victory.
“He did a great job,” Jim Julian said. “He’s kind of an even-keel type of guy. You can’t really tell if he’s up or if he’s down, which is good. He’s got a good poise as a pitcher. He pounds the zone and attacks hitters and did a great job.”
Kettering, Ross, Alex Rankin, and Cam Stratton all finished with two hits for Glendale. Oklahoma State commit Sebastian Norman reached base safely in three of his four trips to the plate, walking twice and getting hit by a pitch.
Kickapoo fell to 4-4 and 1-1 in the Ozark Conference, but Howser commended the Chiefs for the no-quit mentality they displayed after falling into an early hole.
“Baseball is a long season,” Howser said. “We’re trying to figure out who we are. If we can start with the ability to not quit, then everything else will take care of itself by the end of the season.”
GLENDALE 800 000 0 — 8 10 2
KICKAPOO 400 000 0 — 4 8 0
