Tigers take Bill O'Dell Tourney opener, 6-4 over Mt. Vernon

Nevada High School senior Elijah Nadurata chases down a fly ball during a game last week. Nadurata took the mound Monday to help lead the Tigers to a 6-4 win over Mt. Vernon.

File photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

Six runs made it six straight wins to start the season for the Nevada High School baseball team, as the Tigers beat Mt. Vernon 6-4 in the opening round of the Bill O'Dell Tournament Monday afternoon at Carl Lewton Stadium in Carthage.

Like many of the team's wins this year, though, NHS head coach Danny Penn felt the Tigers were lucky to come out of this one with a W.

"To put it bluntly, we were a much more talented team than they were," said Penn, whose squad was able to overcome three defensive errors and several stranded baserunners for a nail-biting victory. "Mainly, we're not playing smart situational baseball. We're always doing just enough to stay on top of them."

Nevada was the visiting team on the scoreboard and lit it up first with a single by Blake Pryor that, with the help of a misplay in right field, allowed fellow senior Elijah Nadurata to score.

After the Mountaineers (2-6) tied it up in the home half of the inning, despite two outs against them, Pryor struck again in the third — knocking a base hit over the first baseman's glove, scoring Eli Cheaney and Case Sanderson.

The Tigers added one run in the fourth (passed ball), fifth (RBI ground-out by Drake Seaver), and sixth innings, including an impromptu hit-and-run in the latter off the bat of Sanderson. Cheaney just happened to time his steal perfectly, and was able to score all the way from first on Sanderson's base hit to the gap in left-center.

"The top of our lineup did a nice job today of getting on base," said Penn, whose team was able to withstand one-run innings by Mt. Vernon in the third, fourth, and sixth. "But offensively, we've got to put together better quality at-bats, especially in the bottom half of the lineup."

Nadurata got the start on the bump and threw 3 2/3 innings before handing the ball off to Cheaney with the bases loaded in the fourth. Cheaney was able to get the batter to pop out on a curveball, then finished the game with six strikeouts.

"Elijah took a step forward," Penn said. "Eli was brought in in a crucial situation. He did a good job of attacking the zone and working at a nice pace. He did a really good job for us in the last half of the game."

Nevada will play Neosho (which lost 10-9 to Carl Junction on Monday) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We're going to have to swing it well and be sharp in the field," Penn said.