Nevada Griffons hold off Joplin Outlaws on Opening Night

Jun. 3—Nevada Griffons manager Mike Albin called it shaky at best, but a five-run sixth inning was just enough.

Despite being shorthanded on players, Nevada staved off a late rally from the pesky Joplin Outlaws to earn a 5-4 victory on Thursday night in a MINK League opener for both teams at Joe Becker Stadium.

The Griffons are 1-0 to start the summer campaign. Nevada was originally slated to open the season with the Sedalia Bombers at home on Wednesday, but it was rained out.

"We battled together," Albin said. "Definitely a good feeling to get a win. We are short-staffed with everybody gone and not in (for the season) yet. It definitely feels good to get the W right away."

Joplin (0-1) nearly erased a five-run deficit in the latter part of the game. But it wasn't enough as the Outlaws rally fell short in Gonzalo Gonzalez' managerial debut.

"These guys did a great job of not giving up, especially late in the game," Gonzalez said. "They didn't give away at-bats, they started grinding things out. Those are signs of a good team. I know we didn't come up with the win today, but there's a lot of things to be excited about with this group. I feel like we are just getting started."

Joplin's rally started when designated hitter Max Bruff, who plays for Wisconsin-Parkside, used the short porch in right at Joe Becker to his advantage.

In the bottom of the sixth, the right-handed hitter deposited an opposite field shot over the wall for a two-run blast as the Outlaws closed the gap to three.

Joplin drew closer in the eighth when Bruff roped an RBI single out to left. It capped a 2 for 3 opening night for Bruff with three runs driven in.

"He did a great job today," Gonzalez said. "He did a good job of getting into good hitter's counts. Even when he got down two strikes, he widened out and did exactly what he needed to do to give himself a chance to be successful."

The Outlaws weren't done in the eighth as catcher Korrey Siracusa hit a sharp grounder deep into the 6-hole for an RBI single with the bases juiced as Joplin cut the score to just one.

On the same play, Bruff's courtesy runner Matt Woodmansee rounded third base aggressively, winding up in a rundown as he got tagged out by Nevada third baseman Jason Schneider for the final out of the inning.

The Outlaws threatened in the ninth as Cody Min was plunked by Griffon reliever Tyler Monroe to open the inning. Caden Bressler followed with a single to right and both runners advanced to third and second on a bunt.

But Monroe buckled down. The righty induced a groundout and got first baseman Carson Carpenter to flyout to medium center field to slam the door and earn the save.

In the top of the sixth, Nevada got on the board when Houston Fogelstrom had the bases loaded and bounced a grounder to first on a check swing that resulted in Conner Culp sliding in safely at home beating out Carpenter's throw.

Outfielder Andrew Pickering added a two-run single up the middle as the Griffons' lead swelled to 3-0. Fogelstrom later came across on a wild pitch and Culp capped the inning with a run-scoring single through the left side to account for Nevada's scoring.

"We saw the approach they were taking with us," Albin said. "We put some good at-bats together. They brought in a reliever we were able to exploit and led to the big inning. We probably could have added a few more."

From Division I Southeast Missouri State, starter Jonah Sarabia was victorious. The power righty registered six punchouts and limited Joplin to two runs on four hits through six innings of work.

"We saw a lot of good things from Jonah," Albin said. "He battled his tail off. He threw a few more pitches than we thought he would. But he certainly competed and kept us right there where we wanted to be."

Jacob Strobel covered the seventh and eighth innings for the Griffons. He coughed up two runs on three hits and walked one, but struck out one.

Culp and Jason Schneider led Nevada's 8-hit attack with two knocks apiece.

Edrian Rangel got the Opening Night nod for the Outlaws. He suffered the tough-luck loss despite allowing three unearned runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. The righty racked up seven strikeouts.

Andrew Sumner recorded one out in the sixth and allowed the other two runs. Joplin product and current Crowder College Roughrider Kohl Cooper was solid in his MINK debut as he worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Nixa product and Pittsburg State reliever Kinson Michel tossed 1 2/3 shutout frames in relief. A.J. Moreno recorded the final out in the ninth for Joplin.

In total, the Outlaws back-end of the bullpen fired three scoreless innings and fanned four batters.

"We have some arms in the back of the bullpen that can help us win games," Gonzalez said. "Now it's the guys in the middle being able to bridge the gap."

Nevada plays at St. Joseph at 7 p.m. Friday while Joplin entertains Des Moines.