By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
WILLARD — Moments after Nixa ace Isaac Mitchell recorded the final out of a complete-game shutout victory over Willard on Tuesday, the head coaches for both teams referenced how the Arkansas signee had just prevailed in a duel between two of southwest Missouri’s top pitchers.
Mitchell’s catcher took it a step further.
“He’s the best pitcher in the midwest,” Jaret Nelson said. “I don’t care what anybody says. He’s outstanding. He’s going to go to Arkansas and he’s going to throw incredibly. I really believe that.”
Mitchell delivered the kind of showing that makes it hard to dispute that claim, outdueling Willard starter Dalen Stewart to lead the Eagles to a 1-0 win in their Central Ozarks Conference opener.
The future Razorback struck out nine, didn’t issue a walk and twice neutralized key Willard rallies — including a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation in the fourth — to ensure Nelson’s third-inning RBI single was enough for Nixa (11-2, 1-0) to win a game in which it mustered only three hits.
“We won the mental battle,” Mitchell said. “Our energy in the dugout stayed up more than it has all year and we kept that the whole game. Even though we had a couple errors here and there, we flushed it and let it go. That’s what kept us in it, because we didn’t let it bother us at all.”
Miscues were few and far between on Mitchell’s first trip through the lineup, as the lefty opened the game with strikes on 30 of his first 36 pitches. He also got some key defensive plays, as Sam Russo’s sliding catch in right field turned a would-be RBI triple into an inning-ending double play.
But the heart of the Willard lineup solved Mitchell in the bottom of the fourth, as Grant Merryman, Cooper Hampton and Klayton Kiser recorded back-to-back-to-back singles to give the Tigers life.
That threat was over as soon as it began, as Mitchell struck out the next two batters and got a fly out to end the inning. He carried that momentum into the fifth, sending the Tigers down in order.
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“He just doesn’t get rattled,” Nixa coach Jason Daugherty said. “He’s just cool and collected. We call him Ice. I mean, Isaac’s his name, but he’s got ice water in his veins. A lot of pitchers don’t handle pressure that well, but he’s been pitching for me since he was a freshman. We didn’t have last year, but he’s always been able to keep his composure in big games and not get rattled.”
The Eagles needed every bit of that composure, as their bats were unable to generate any sustained offense against Stewart. The fellow southpaw struggled with his command early — hitting two batters and walking two more — but was able to escape the jams with minimal damage.
The lone exception was the third inning, when Nelson’s two-out single to left scored Russo. But Stewart was lights-out the rest of the way and finished with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
“In tight games like that, every single pitch matters,” Mitchell said. “Every single play matters. Every single ground ball, fly ball. We just did better in that aspect and mentally stayed in there.”
Willard (10-6, 1-1) had one more chance to tie the game in the sixth inning as its first two batters — Merryman and Hampton — each reached base after throws pulled the first baseman off the bag. But that was as close as the Tigers got, as Mitchell retired the next six batters he saw.
“We took the right approach,” Tigers coach Scott McGee said. “We took good swings. It just didn’t happen for us. That’s baseball. I think we had more baserunners today, but having bases loaded with nobody out and not scoring — and in another inning we had first and second with nobody out and didn’t score — those things are going to hurt you against a really good arm like Isaac.”
Nixa momentarily added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, as Jerris Thornton appeared to beat a throw home by sliding around a tag and was initially called safe by the umpire.
But McGee appealed that Thornton never touched the plate and successfully got the call reversed, wiping out the run and leading to a tense exchange between Daugherty and the umpire.
“It could have been a big factor,” Daugherty said. “If they came back and tied it or go ahead and win it, it would have been a big thing. It worked out, but, crap, man. I wasn’t the happiest camper.”
With Mitchell on the hill, though, one run was all Nixa needed to beat Stewart and the Tigers.
“It was probably two of the best left-handed pitchers in southwest Missouri — and really two of the best pitchers in the whole state,” McGee said. “They both do really well. We knew coming in that Isaac was a strike-thrower with multiple pitches and he proved to be on his game.”
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