Illinois team bests Joplin Eagles 5-3

Mar. 29—In what turned out to be a series of missed opportunities for the Joplin Eagles, the Hersey Huskies prevailed 5-3 in their game on Wednesday at Joplin High School.

For the Huskies, from Arlington Heights, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), the game was the second of three against Southwest Missouri teams. Hersey fell 6-0 to Webb City on Tuesday and will travel to Branson for a Thursday matchup against the Pirates.

The Eagles (3-4) put the Huskies down in order in the opening frame. In the bottom of the first, Brady Mails connected for a lead-off single to center off Hersey starter John Balla. With Cole Lawrence at the plate, Mails stole second before Lawrence took a 3-2 pitch for a walk. Byler Reither advanced Mails to third base. Lawrence stole second base, but with runners at second and third, the Eagles Justin McReynolds and Landon Maples both fell victim to strikeouts and entered the second inning with a scoreless game.

Reither gave up a single in the second, but two flyouts and a strikeout kept the game at nil. In the bottom half of the inning, Jackson Queen reached on a Hersey error. Aiden Kerr came in to pinch run and stole second base, but strikeouts of Eli Sotlar and Brock Waghorn and a diving catch on a line drive off the bat of Caden Shoemaker by Hersey's Drew Phillips ended the inning.

Carson Naegele opened the third inning for the Huskies with a single to centerfield, but the Eagles put down the next three Hersey batters to end any scoring threat. Joplin was put down in order in the bottom of the frame.

Will Hickey logged a lead-off double to the right field wall before David Denten reached first by beating the throw on a dropped third strike. Hickey advanced to third an the Huskies were set with runners on the corners and no outs, Denten reached second on defensive indifference before Brandon Pflomm drove both runners in with a double to right field. A Chuck Meister single plated Pflomm and the Huskies were up 3-0. Joplin retired the next two batters and entered their half of the third down 3-0.

The Eagles got one run back in the frame, of a Queen sacrifice fly that scored McReynolds, who reached base earlier on a sharply hit double down the third base line. Reither held the Huskies at bay in the top of the fifth inning and entered the bottom of the fifth down 3-1.

Joplin managed to tie the game at 3-3 in their half of the frame off a Reither sacrifice fly that scored Shoemaker and a McReynolds double that plated Mails. The runs prompted a pitching change for Hersey, which put Balla on the mound to replace starter Keegan Luxem to face the next Eagle bats. Balla was able to get through the inning with no further damage and the teams went to the sixth inning tied at 3-3.

After Hersey's Denten reached first on a single, Reither was pulled for Alex Isbell. After a Denten steal of second, Isbell enticed a flyout from Pflomm and Keegan Luxem. Pinch runner Aidan Groberski scored after an Eagle error at first base and the Huskies were up 4-3.

"We had a lot of opportunities earlier in the game to push some runs across," Joplin Head Coach Kyle Wolf said. "Those type of plays are going to happen. We lost it in the sun. If we took advantage of some other opportunities early in the game, that play doesn't loom as large. That one play did not determine the game."

An RBI single by Carson Naegele extended the Husky lead to 5-3 before Isbell fanned Tyler Naegele to end the inning.

The Eagles went three up and three down in the bottom of the sixth and entered the final inning still down two runs.

Isbell retired the side with Joplin looking for the comeback win in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, Reither hit a long fly ball to the warning track for a double, followed by a McReynolds walk. The Eagles put the winning run at the plate in the form of Maples, but Maples fell victim to a three-pitch strikeout, ending the game.

Husky Coach Wally Brownley talked about his team's Spring Break tour of Southwest Missouri after the game. Brownley said the matchup was conceived by a friend, Chris Hoffman, who coaches at Lakes Community High School in Antioch, Illinois. Hoffman, a former Missouri Southern player, suggested the pairing.

"Coach Wolf, his staff and his team have been so gracious in hosting us," Brownley said. "They let us come out here this morning and get a little workout in. It has been really cool, we're 10 hours away from home and everyone has been so kind and nice and then to come and play a really good baseball game was just icing on the cake."

Brownley so far has been impressed with Southwest Missouri.

"The facilities are top-notch and the people are even better," Brownley said.

Wolf said he's open to inviting Hersey back again.

"Absolutely, I'd love it. They are a classy group and a good baseball team."