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Generals edge Griffons 4-3 in key MINK South division clash
The MINK League South Division crown slipped from the Nevada Griffons grasp Saturday night at Lyons Stadium.
With only three games remaining on the regular-season slate the Ozark Generals and Griffons entered the contest tied for first-place. Jeff Swetland’s three-run bomb in the sixth inning proved to be the deciding factor as the Generals prevailed in the 4-3 nail-biter.
The defeat was a crippling blow to the Griffons division title prospects, as Ozark followed with Sunday’s 15-5 thrashing of Joplin, and Monday’s division clinching 12-5 road victory over Jefferson City. The Griffons also responded with home victories on Sunday and Monday, defeating Sedalia 4-3, then run-ruling Joplin 13-2 in seven innings.
Nevada (24-17) remains a game back of Ozark (25-16), with one contest remaining on each teams regular-season slate. Ozark, however, owns the tiebreaker, and thus, has locked up the South division crown.
Griffons 4, Ozark 3
The Griffons jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage as Wesley Powell led off the bottom of the first with an opposite field solo blast over the right field wall.
“It was an outside fastball,” recounted Powell of the 2-2 offering served up by Ozark southpaw Joe Lewis. “I made good contact, and got things started off for us.”
Powell’s frigid start to the season is a distant memory, as the Navarro College product has been on a tear the past couple weeks. With the departure of Josh Bristyan he has ascended from the bottom of the order to the leadoff spot.
Powell credited a tweak to his batting stance for his recent surge at the dish.
“There’s been some little things, but the major thing was getting my front foot down,” explained Powell, who has seen his average soar .150 points, to .315 since mid-June. “I was inconsistent (early in the season) with my timing and loading, so just getting that down and seeing the ball out of the pitchers hand have been the biggest differences.”
The Griffons tacked on a run in the second, courtesy of a double steal and an error on Ozark catcher Fernando Villegas, resulting in Connor Dupuy scoring from third as the Griffons went on top 2-0.
Nevada padded its cushion to 3-0 in the fourth as Blake Faecher sprinted home on Lewis’ two-out wild pitch.
Making his second start of the year for the Griffons, Tyler Schmidt cruised through the first four frames, before Blake Garrett’s solo homer in the fifth trimmed Ozark’s deficit to 3-1.
Schmidt’s evening unraveled in the sixth, as the 6-foot-2 southpaw from Missouri Baptist University issued back-to-back walks on eight consecutive balls to open the frame. The Generals promptly capitalized on Schmidt’s control woes as Sparta, Ohio native Swetland crushed an offering over the right-center field wall.
Swetland’s eighth round-tripper of the season put Ozark up 4-3.
Schmidt faced just two more batters, and was replaced by 6-foot-8 southpaw Thomas Boothe. From that point on the contest was dominated by relief pitching, as both squads utilized a pair of relievers who combined for four shutout innings apiece.
Over the final four innings of the contest the Griffons mustered just one hit, and were unable to advance a runner into scoring position until the bottom of the ninth, when Connor Dupuy advanced to second on a two-out wild pitch, only to see the contest conclude via Lukas Polanco’s pop out to shallow right.
Lewis (4-1) recorded the pitching victory, allowing five hits and three earned over five innings of work. Lewis was replaced by Travis Schnoor to open the sixth. After tossing a clean inning, Schnoor gave way to Hayden Harrell in the seventh. The Mississippian was nearly flawless in three scoreless frames of work, striking out three and walking a batter, while not allowing a hit en route to his first save of the season.
Schmidt (1-2) was saddled with the loss, allowing four earned over five innings, while striking out three and walking four. Nevada then received two scoreless innings apiece from relievers Boothe and Kirby Osburn.
Osburn, making just his second appearance of the season for the Griffons, fanned three in two perfect frames.
“It was a well-pitched game on both accounts,” noted Griffons manager Ryan Mansfield.
Schmidt, who has primarily played outfield for the Griffons this season, has now moved into the starting rotation due to recent defections.
“Schmidt’s been put in a position where he’s had to start for us,” said Mansfield. “This was by far his best game. The homeruns don’t really bother me, but the two guys he walked ahead of (Swetland) do.”
At the dish Powell collected the Griffons only multi-hit performance, concluding the contest 2-for-4 with a homerun. For Ozark, Swetland finished 1-for-3 with three RBI.
See a future edition of the Nevada Daily Mail for all the latest on Nevada Griffons baseball