Outlaws offense sputters in 4-1 setback to Bombers
Jul. 1—The Joplin Outlaws offense sputtered on Thursday night against the Sedalia Bombers pitching staff.
But despite falling 4-1 at Joe Becker Stadium, Joplin manager Gonzalo Gonzalez remained positive in his ball club after the game.
Why wouldn't he?
The Outlaws, who slipped to 11-13, remained in sole possession of first place in the MINK League South Division standings.
"For me, the best thing I saw tonight was better baseball," Gonzalez said. "From top to bottom, we played better baseball, more clean baseball. Obviously, the win didn't go our way but the process of it happening was better."
Second-place Sedalia, improving to 12-16, drew first blood with two runs in the top of the fifth. Kayden Williams and Cade Schupe collected RBI singles to get the Bombers going.
Joplin scored its only run in the bottom of the sixth when Sam Fagan plated Liam Bailey with a one-bagger to left, trimming the deficit to 2-1.
Sedalia picked up two key insurance runs in the ninth. Williams stretched the lead to two with an RBI double, while Nick Schmidt worked a bases-loaded free pass to account for the final scoring margin.
The Outlaws offense was stifled by a pair of Bomber pitchers that are committed to college powerhouses.
A Division II Central Missouri commit, Peyton Messer was strong in his start. The southpaw struck out six batters and surrendered one run on four hits through 5 2/3 innings of work.
Carter Degonia came out of the bullpen and punched out four batters over 3 1/3 innings of one-hit baseball. Degonia is a Division I Missouri State commit.
Sedalia's 1-2 punch limited Joplin to five hits.
"They had some funk to them," Gonzalez said. "We didn't keep their lefty (Messer) off balance. He had a quick pace. We did very little to throw him off. That's one thing I would say about our hitting approach. We started doing it more when we scored that run. We started stepping out and making him uncomfortable, putting pressure on him and stealing bags. That's what made the difference for us scoring that run."
The Bombers offense generated 10 hits. Williams went 3 for 5 to lead the way.
On the other side, a big silver lining was the performance of the Outlaws' pitching staff. Ethan Sally, who took the loss, had three strikeouts and walked just one while giving up two runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Webb City product Gavin Stowell was a huge bright spot. The Highland Community College signee was summoned in the fifth and went on to strike out four of the five batters he faced while yielding one hit.
Andrew Sumner followed with a scoreless seventh and eighth. Brett Graham recorded an out in the ninth and allowed a run, while Cole White coughed up the other run before recording back-to-back strikeouts to limit the damage and escape a bases-loaded mess.
Fagan, Michael Long, Carson Carpenter, Carson Johnson and Caden Bressler each had hits for the Outlaws.
"Our pitching has really been keeping us in games," Gonzalez said. "Offensively, we need to pick it up a bit and make sure our approach is there. Tonight, it was better than it has been. If we can continue this with our pitching and our offense comes back around, we are going to be all right."
Joplin concludes a two-game home series against Sedalia at 6 p.m. Friday.
"We need to make sure we put pressure on them," Gonzalez said. "The biggest thing is not giving it away at the end. The difference was five free bags. That's it.
"If we are able to put it together like we did tonight offensively but get it done in pressure situations with runners in scoring position, we'll be okay."
