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Fort Scott's LaRoche blanks Tigers, 10-0
The Fort Scott Tiger varsity baseball team shut out the Nevada Tigers 10-0 in six innings on a damp, rainy Monday evening at the LaRoche Baseball Complex-Dave Regan Stadium.
The non-conference victory ups red-hot Fort Scott to 17-1 overall, while Nevada moves to 3-15 on the season.
Fort Scott’s Drake LaRoche pitched all six innings, throwing 88 pitches, allowing only three hits and racking up nine strikeouts in the Tigers’ 17th straight win this season. Fort Scott blew open a 1-0 ballgame early by dropping seven runs on Nevada in the second inning.
Nevada’s starting pitcher Peyton Denney lasted only one inning after Fort Scott jumped out to a 4-0 lead with no outs halfway through the second. Denny was pulled in favor of Logan Bradley, who moved from shortstop and pitched three innings, striking out one hitter.
Fort Scott had a 1-0 lead in the first after Matt Campbell’s single knocked in Ty Gorman, who had singled and advanced to third base after a ball got by the catcher. Nevada’s only hit in the first was a single by Grant Miller.
LaRoche struck out the side in the top of the second.
Fort Scott’s big second inning began with Brody Bowles reaching first on a walk, then stealing second. Facing a full count, Luke Bradbury singled and after a throw got away from Nevada catcher Blake Pryor, Bradbury moved to second and Bowles scored to put Fort Scott up 2-0.
Keenan Guilfoyle’s standup double brought in another run, and Guilfoyle later scored on a wild pitch to give Fort Scott a 4-0 lead. After Braden Shelton walked, he moved to second and Alec Michaud took first after a balk was called on Denney. Bradley came in to relieve Denney after Gorman walked to load the bases with no outs.
Bradley was able to strike out Brady Masters to record the first out of the inning, but Fort Scott would tack on four more runs before the frame was complete. Campbell’s RBI single was followed by a sacrifice fly by Witt to put Fort Scott up 6-0. Bowles’ infield single drove in another run, and after Bradbury reached first on an error, another run scored to give Fort Scott an 8-0 lead after two innings.
Nevada stranded two baserunners in the third inning after Jayden Ast and Lane McNeley had reached base on singles. Bradley was solid in the third and fourth innings, getting Fort Scott’s hitters to go down in order in both innings.
Nevada had two baserunners in the fifth after singles by Bradley and Logan McNeley. With two on and one out, Ast struck out and Lane McNeley later grounded out to end the inning.
Nevada Head Coach Danny Penn changed pitchers to start the fifth, bringing Pryor in to pitch and making other defensive adjustments. Fort Scott added one more run in the inning after Bradbury, who had reached first after being hit by a pitch, scored on a wild pitch.
LaRoche retired the side in the sixth, and the game ended 10-0 after Masters scored on a wild pitch and the 10-run rule was invoked. Masters had walked to start the bottom half of the inning, and had moved to third on wild pitches.
Pryor pitched 1 1/3 innings for Nevada, recording one strikeout.
At the plate, Campbell had two hits and two RBIs. Miller and Logan McNeley each had hits for Nevada. Shelton walked twice, and Masters and Ivan Witt each walked once for Fort Scott. Guilfoyle and Witt each had RBIs.
Fort Scott had a total of seven hits in the game. Both teams recorded one error.
Fort Scott’s lone loss of the season came to Pittsburg, who defeated the Tigers 7-6 in nine innings in the season-opener (March 26).
Penn said he was impressed with LaRoche's performance.
"(Drake) did a really nice job of working ahead and hitting his spots," Penn said. "He was able to throw three pitches — fastball, slider, and a change-up for strikes. He did a good job of keeping us off-balance, and forcing us to hit his pitch, instead of what we wanted."
Denney, meanwhile, had a tough outing, yielding seven runs (six earned), while walking four in one frame of work.
"I thought Peyton threw a lot better than his line would indicate," Penn said. "He got squeezed pretty good by the plate umpire, which allowed their hitters to sit back, and wait for something over the middle of the plate."
In a long relief appearance, Bradley allowed one unearned run, while striking out one and walking none across three frames of work.
"Logan did a really good job in his first varsity mound action since his health hiatus," noted Penn. "We were happy with how he threw, inducing a lot of weak contact."
Summed up Penn: "Fort Scott is just a solid baseball team. We talked postgame about how they did a lot of the little things, that we have stressed all season, the right way. The way they hustle on- and-off the field. The way they play with confidence, and don't appear timid at all."