By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Nixa standout Isaac Mitchell wasn’t as sharp on Monday as he was last week in a seven-inning shutout against Willard.
But Mitchell was good enough on the road at Joplin, allowing just one earned run in 5.2 innings as the Class 6 No. 7 Eagles improved to 3-0 in Central Ozark Conference play with a 7-1 victory.
“Usually he’s sharp, sharp, sharp and he wasn’t as sharp today. You’re not always going to be,” Nixa coach Jason Daugherty said. “To allow one run and not have your stuff, that’s not bad and this team can swing it too. Joplin can hit the ball.”
The Arkansas commit issued five walks and allowed eight hits to go along with five strikeouts and pitched himself out of jams in almost every inning.
Joplin (11-6, 3-1) loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and scored on a single past third base, but Mitchell responded with two strikeouts to limit the damage.
The Nixa offense helped him out with a six-run second inning, a “humongous” inning according to Daugherty.
The Eagles (13-2) sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs despite recording just three hits – two singles and a double. But John Gholson was hit by a pitch and Jerris Thornton, Tanner Grant and Sam Russo drew walks. Alek Johnson singled in one run, Russo’s bases-loaded walk scored another and Ryan Retone drove in two with a double to deep center. Jaret Nelson added a sacrifice fly and Quinn Gundelfinger singled on a ball in the sun behind third base, scoring another.
“We kind of blew up and hit the ball really hard,” Daugherty said. “They gave us some walks in there, too. They had one miscue right here to give us one more run but for the most part we hit the ball really well.”
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Joplin starter Ethan Guilford pitched 2.2 innings and allowed three hits and six runs while striking out four and walking four.
“Any time you give Nixa, a team of their caliber, an opportunity with the hit-by-pitches and walks they’re going to take advantage of that and they did,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “That’s what good baseball teams do. Ethan’s been really good for us all year and he’ll continue to be good the rest of the year, just had a bad inning. That’s baseball and it happens.”
A triple gave Joplin a runner at third with one out in the second but Mitchell threw him out at home after fielding a bunt. Joplin loaded the bases again in the third after Mitchell issued three-straight walks, but he got a groundout to first to escape again.
Joplin put a runner on with one out in the fourth, a runner on with two outs in the fifth and had two on with two outs in the sixth when Daugherty pulled Mitchell after 108 pitches. Parker Bridges ended the sixth with a groundout and struck out two in the seventh to close it out.
“Isaac just battled through,” Daugherty said. “They had the bases loaded a couple times, he had some trouble a couple times and Isaac pitched out of it. He does that a lot.”
Joplin left 12 runners on base in the game and was 2-for-9 with three walks with runners in scoring position.
“He’s obviously a very good left-handed pitcher,” Wolf said. “You’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities in front of you when you have them and we didn’t. I thought we had some really good at bats at times we just couldn’t string them together or come up with that hit with the bases loaded. Felt like every time I looked up we’d get a single but there were two outs. Down six there’s not a lot you can do in that situation besides hope you can string a few more together and that’s going to be tough to do against him.”
Nixa added an insurance run in the sixth. Retone reached with two outs after a dropped third strike and scored on Nelson’s double to center.
Nixa finished with six hits and four walks. Retone and Nelson each doubled and drove in two runs; Retone scored twice.
“Really nobody had a fantastic game. Everybody had a fairly decent game,” Daugherty said. “That’s really what it was.”
Joplin had nine hits and five walks; Kirk Chandler and Carson Wampler were each 2-for-3 and Wampler had a triple.
Fielding Campbell pitched 4.1 innings in relief for Joplin and allowed just three hits and a run while striking out three. He threw 80 pitches.
“He did exactly what he needed to do in that game,” Wolf said. “We know he’s going to come in and fill it up and throw strikes, change speeds and keep people off balance. For him to give us that game – not only did he keep us in that game and really provide us an opportunity if we can get a couple hits in some situations to get back in it but he helped us for Wednesday, keeping some guys fresh for Carthage which is a big conference and district game as well.”
“They’re one of the better teams in our district so this will help us,” Daugherty said.
