By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
A five-run inning was the cure for what ailed the Forsyth baseball team Tuesday in Joplin.
The Panthers found themselves in a 4-1 hole entering the bottom of the fourth inning, but then sent nine batters to the plate and used four singles, a walk and a hit batter to take the lead en route to an 11-4 victory over Lamar in a Class 3 sectional game at Missouri Southern State University.
“Things didn’t quite go our way early on but we’ve got an experienced ball club and we battled,” Forsyth head coach Byron Richardson said. “All year long we never think we’re out of a ballgame and that’s what’s special about this group is we’ve got a lot of confidence and we want to win.”
Forsyth, 23-4, advances to take on Licking, 24-3, on Thursday in the quarterfinals; it was the Wildcats who ended the Panthers’ season in the sectional round last spring.
With Forsyth seeking its 14th win in 15 games, it was Lamar that was the aggressor early on Tuesday. The Tigers, 13-10, struck for two runs in the first and two more in the third for the 4-1 lead midway through the game. Their two-run third sparked a pitching change, with Forsyth ace Tristan Hunter taking over on the mound. Hunter walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases with just one out.
Third baseman Benjamin Boyer then made a fantastic defensive play to keep things close. Lamar’s Riddick Gordon lined a pitch down the line, but Boyer made a diving catch and then tagged out the runner to end the inning.
“Baseball is a game of inches,” Lamar coach Scott Quinly said. “Their third baseman made a great play down the line to double us up. That ball goes down, we’re up 6-1, possibly 7-1.”
Hunter got out of another bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Lamar reached on a walk, a dropped third strike and a fielder’s choice. But Hunter coaxed a groundout to third to end it. He then led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk, advanced on a balk and scored on a single by Braxton Gross that got the big inning started.
Jerrett Walls followed with a single, then Thomas Strahan lined a single past third to make it 4-3. Nickolas Guy was later hit by a pitch, and a bases-loaded single by Mason Campbell put the Panthers ahead 5-4. They scored a sixth run on a double steal.
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“All year we’ve done a really good job as the game goes on with our at bats getting better and better,” Richardson said. “Second time through our order I feel like we find a way to get the bats going. It just takes someone different every day but someone finds a way to get us going and then we get hot. They did a good job of that tonight.”
After that, Hunter settled in––he struck out the side around two walks in the fifth and struck out all three he faced in the sixth.
And Forsyth’s offense wasn’t done, either. They added three runs in the fifth, highlighted by a home run to left off the bat of Braxton Gross. Thomas Strahan singled in another run and so did Guy to make it 9-4.
In the sixth, Ayden Cleveringa tripled to score another run, and a single by Jerrett Walls made it 11-4.
Walls finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and an RBI. Gross was 2-for-4 with two runs and two driven in. Strahan went 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBI and a walk. Campbell drove in two runs.
For Lamar, Trent Torbeck went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, and Brody Gardner drew two walks and scored twice.
Forsyth Starter Bryce Nolen allowed two earned runs in 2.1 innings, and Hunter allowed just one hit in 4.2 innings, with eight strikeouts.
“It was a lot of fun, we just want to keep it going,” Richardson said.
“We’re really young and I lose one kid, my right fielder, who’s the only senior we have,” Quinly said. “Starting three sophomores and a freshman. We just got better and better every week. The kids started buying into what we were selling them. It’s a new coach of the program, my assistants are new guys. Them buying into what we were selling and just really learning the game has been a big part of their year. I can’t say enough, I’m so proud of them. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way today but we’re here. Hopefully next year with the kids we’ve got coming back we can take that next step.”
