Sanderson one-hits Neosho, Nevada baseball wins again

After Neosho got its first hit on his change-up in the first inning of Tuesday's tilt in the Bill O'Dell Tournament, Nevada High School sophomore pitcher Case Sanderson settled for fastballs and curveballs the rest of the way.

And didn't give up another hit.

"Case was trying to do a little too much and just overthrowing the baseball a little bit," said NHS head coach Danny Penn, who saw his young pitcher regroup after walking in two runs, finish the game with 11 strikeouts, and help guide the Tigers to a 6-2 win. "Credit to him being able to come in between innings, settle himself down, and go out with a clean mindset. From that point forward, he was just nails."

Helping Sanderson's confidence: Nevada's offense responded with three runs in the home half of the first inning — highlighted by an RBI single to left by senior Blake Pryor (that scored Sanderson). The Tigers scored their other two runs on a wild pitch and a two-out error.

Senior Elijah Nadurata drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning, and Pryor hit a sacrifice fly and junior Kartman Highley ripped an RBI single to right in the sixth to give NHS some insurance runs.

But they didn't need them, as Sanderson was locked in for the final six innings of the game.

Throw in zero errors by the defense — to match the number of losses on Nevada's record — and you've got one happy head coach after the game.

"I'm really proud of how our guys responded after last night's game," said Penn, whose team committed three errors in a sloppy two-run win over Mt. Vernon in the tournament opener on Monday. "Case pitched with a really nice tempo and rhythm, keeping our defense engaged. Pitcher and defense worked together in a really nice rhythm there."

Up next for the 7-0 Tigers: the 4-8 Monett Cubs, who have been outscored 27-7 so far in the tourney.

If Nevada takes care of them, the Tigers will play for the tournament championship at 7 p.m. Friday inside Carl Lewton Stadium.

"It's a coaching cliché, but we need to make sure we have a good practice on Wednesday so we don't overlook Monett on Thursday," Penn said. "We've got to take care of business before we can talk about the championship game. But that's where we want to be."

Junior Eli Cheaney led the offense with three hits and two runs.