By Dana Harding
Strafford’s Dillon Turner threw a one-hit shutout against Marionville Tuesday to preserve a 2-0 victory and put the Indians in the Mid-Lakes Conference drivers seat.
The sophomore hurler got out to a quick start, retiring the first nine batters in order.
Key to Turner’s early success was the ability to spot the ball with first-pitch strikes. Turner worked ahead on the count for three straight innings, and notched six of his 11 strikeouts in that stretch.
Strafford head coach Shane Pierce noted Turner’s early success in the count.
“We’ve talked a lot about that with our young pitchers,” Pierce said. “How important it is to throw strike one and get ahead of those hitters so you can throw some of your other pitches. That allowed [Turner] to throw more change-ups tonight than he’s thrown all year. It was kind of fun for him to be able to throw that after he got ahead.”
While Turner’s shutout made for a nice and tidy box score, a couple items served to increase the degree of difficulty.
Case in point, Marionville pitcher and SBU signee Aaron Head.
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After giving up a first-inning RBI single to Strafford shortstop Tony Caldwell, Head settled in and nearly matched Turner pitch-for-pitch.
“Aaron does a great job,” Pierce said. “I’ve watched him pitch since he was a freshman, and he’s only gotten better. He’s going to play DII baseball for a reason. We were fortunate a couple times where a bounce didn’t go their way and went ours, and we were able to push a couple runs across.”
Head finished the game with 10 strikeouts, one walk and one earned run off six hits.
While Turner was able to jump on Marionville hitters with first-pitch strikes, Strafford attempted a more aggressive approach at the plate against Head.
“We knew one or two runs would probably win this game,” Pierce said. “We’re young, and young hitters often struggle with off-speed stuff, so we talked about being aggressive early in the count and seeing if we could get the job done early. I think that kind of paid off a little bit.”
Turner’s gem was also not without its share of self-imposed adversity.
Following a fly-out to center in the bottom of the third, the Strafford right-hander’s most important pitches would follow moments later.
While the previous nine hitters had all started the count 0-1, Turner walked leadoff hitter Ryan Mayberry on four pitches.
Two quick stolen bases moved Mayberry into prime scoring position at third with two outs, and then a passed ball from Turner prompted a dead sprint for home for a potential game-tying run.
Unfortunately for the Comets, Strafford catcher Wyatt Maples reached the ball in time and was able to flip it back to a charging Turner for the home plate tag.
Recalling the walk and partial loss of control during the fourth, Turner admitted to losing a bit of mental focus between innings.
“I just got a little nerve-racking from hitting,” Turner said. “I just wanted to clear my head and fix that problem. Just step off, take a breath and come back at them.”
Pierce praised his young pitcher’s ability to collect himself and work out of trouble.
“As a hitter, he was probably still thinking about that at-bat,” Pierce said. “That’s hard for a young baseball player to do; to leave that alone in the dugout and then go back out to the mound and get the job done.”
An error in the bottom of the fourth scored Bryce Boswell from second and gave Strafford an insurance run heading into the back half of the ball game. The added run proved to be more than enough for Turner, who closed out the game for the Indians.
For Marionville and head coach Jason Grose, the inability to adjust and capitalize at the plate proved to be too much to overcome.
“We just weren’t stringing together good at-bats,” Grose said. “One here and there … you’ve got to have three, four, five in a row to score one or two runs. We just couldn’t put back-to-back, good at-bats together. We had some opportunities to make a 2-1 or 2-2 game late, but we just couldn’t come through.”
Both teams are back in action Thursday, April 27. Strafford (11-5, 5-0) travels to Fair Grove for a game that will likely decide the Mid-Lakes Conference, while Marionville (9-7) hosts Ash Grove.
Varsity Final: Strafford – 2, Marionville – 0
Marionville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Strafford 1 0 0 1 0 0 x — 2
Hits: Marionville – 1, Strafford – 6
Errors: Marionville – 1, Strafford – 1
LOB: Marionville – 3, Strafford – 5
WP: Dillon Turner (7.0 IP, 1H, 11K, 2BB, 0R)
LP: Aaron Head (6.0 IP, 6H, 10K, 1BB, 1R)
Time of game: 1:38
