Webb City baseball team claims 7-1 win over Joplin Eagles

Apr. 30—Joplin and Webb City played a tightly contested baseball game most of the way Tuesday night at Joplin High School.

The Cardinals led 3-1 after four innings. Both pitching staffs were able to limit damage and keep the score low early on.

Webb City sent Payton Marshall out to start the game, and Marshall was able to work into the third inning before being pulled for Landon Fletcher, who took the Cardinals to the sixth inning before Landen Piette slammed the door on the Eagles to claim the 7-1 win.

"We used a few different guys. Payton did a fantastic job starting that game for us," Webb City head coach Andrew Doennig said. "Fletcher came in and got his work in, and Piette came in and did the same thing.

"We tell our guys it doesn't matter when they pitch, they just have to come in and compete in the zone."

Joplin had runners on base often and even loaded the bases in the fourth inning with just one out, but the team managed only one run.

"We had a runner at second base I think every inning. A lot of times that may have been with two out. We just couldn't seem to come up with that timely hit," Joplin head coach Kyle Wolf said.

A timely hit came in the fourth when Braxon Gough singled into right field to load the bases for Joplin. Later, Caden Shoemaker grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop.

Webb City's Cohen Epler fielded the ball and threw to second base for the force out, but there wasn't enough time to complete the double play as Gough sped down the first base line and beat the throw from the Cardinals' second baseman Sam Weller.

"We had opportunities, and their guys did a good job making pitches when they needed to, to get out those of jams," Wolf said.

Joplin's Brock Waghorn got the start for the Eagles and worked into the fifth before being backed up by John Jasper.

Webb City took a 2-0 lead with a home run from Christian Brock in the first inning and added a third run in the third inning. The Cardinals tacked on one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.

"We talk to our kids about scoring first. We did that and then kept tacking on," Doennig said. "At some point this year, stealing a base is going to matter. Stealing a base, bunting a ball and sacrificing a guy over. It doesn't really matter if it goes hit, hit, hit. Sometimes it's going to be walk, sac, hit. It doesn't matter as long as you score runs. That was nice to see because sometimes that's hard for kids to understand."

The Cardinals (19-7) face the top-ranked team in Class 5 in the Willard Tigers (22-3). The game is set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Webb City. That could get moved to Friday because of bad weather.

Joplin (7-18) hosts Branson (20-8) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.