Griffons fall short to Beejays in nail-biter
The Nevada Griffons suffered a tough loss to the Liberal Beejays at Lyons Stadium last night.
Neither team was really able to put up any scoring offense in the first inning, but both pitchers were touched for one hit and Korby Mintken added another stolen base to his total for Nevada -- his 11th in 11 attempts this year.
Nevada starter Tim Freshour retired all three batters he faced in the second, holding the game scoreless going into the home half of the frame. Before Liberal starter Don Lisi could get out of the inning, he gave up two singles, but the Griffons came out of the inning stranding two runners and keeping the game scoreless.
Freshour's outing got a bit rocky in the third, allowing back-to-back doubles to start the inning, but was able to make a fairly quick recovery. The Beejays came up with one more run in the inning, giving Nevada a 2-0 deficit.
Tyler Redick led off the bottom of the third with a hard shot to third, but was gunned down at first. Mintken came through with his second hit of the game to keep the inning alive before adding yet another stolen base, but was stranded at second by a fly ball off the bat of Ryan Shay that was caught in center for the final out of the inning.
Liberal left fielder Nick Zaleski went after the first pitch he saw in the fourth, launching a home run just over the fence in left center. Freshour was able to get out of the inning with no further damage as he retired the next three batters to come to the plate, taking the game into the bottom of the fourth with Liberal on top 3-0.
The Griffons were able to tack on their fifth hit of the game in the home half of the fourth, but the runner was yet again stranded, as Nevada came out of the inning scoreless.
Liberal got their lead-off man on for the fourth time in the game in the fifth inning, but were unable to score when Freshour was able to retire three of the next four batters, allowing one walk. The Griffons were able to get a one-out base runner in their half of the frame on an error by the second baseman, but were yet again unable to score, stranding two more runners in the inning.
Zaleski led off the sixth inning for Liberal by being hit by a Freshour pitch, but the runner was quickly erased on an unsuccessful attempt to steal second. Freshour allowed one hit in the inning, but was able to retire the side with no damage, keeping the score steady at 3-0.
Nevada was finally able to get a lead-off base runner when Brian Bello lifted a single to left and later stole second, but was stranded on second, the eighth stranded runner of the game for the Griffons.
The Beejays got their lead-off man on for the sixth time in seven chances with a walk from Freshour to start the seventh inning. Liberal followed with a bunt single before Nevada catcher Mark Wyatt was able to pick off Clint Ewing at second and the Griffons went on to shut the threat down with no damage when Wyatt caught yet another runner trying to steal, keeping the Liberal lead steady at 3-0.
The crowd came to life in the seventh as the Griffons notched their first extra-base hit of the game with a one-out triple from Redick and finally ended their streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings. The Griffons were held to just one run in the inning when Mintken was caught stealing for the first time since joining the team, to end the inning.
Freshour allowed yet another lead-off hit, a double by Sam Tucker, before head coach John Hill III decided to make a pitching change. Trevor Geist came on in relief of Freshour and threw a wild pitch for his first delivery, allowing the runner to advance to third. Geist would go on to allow two runs in the inning, one the result of a booming home run by Chris Kersten.
Liberal reliever Will Skelton started the eighth with some control issues, hitting Ryan Shay with a pitch to lead off the inning. Shay went on to steal second before Skelton walked Bello to give Nevada runners on first and second with nobody out.
The Griffons went on to score one run in the inning, cutting the Beejays' lead down to 5-2 going into the ninth.
Redick committed the Griffons' only error of the game in the ninth inning when he dropped the ball in left center, allowing Liberal to get their lead-off man on yet again. Nevada reliever Patrick Lemmond was able to retire the next three batters, holding Liberal scoreless in the inning.
Alex Richard came on to close the game out for the Beejays and gave Nevada substantial hope with a rocky performance. Richard gave up two runs in the inning, but the Griffons came up just short, losing the game 5-4.
After the game, Hill said of the opposing team, "They are a very good offensive team and lucky." Hill also commented that the keys to the loss for Nevada were poor decisions on the bases and not running well, along with not getting quality at-bats and not hitting the ball well. "Our pitching was good enough to give us a chance, we just didn't hit enough," Hill said.
The loss drops Nevada's record to 20-13 overall and 14-12 in league play. Nevada won two out of three games in their weekend series against Derby, winning Friday and Saturday nights 4-3 and 8-5, respectively, before losing Sunday 3-0
The Griffons' next contest is scheduled for tonight at Lyons Stadium in the second of a three game set against Liberal.