Griffons defeat Outlaws at home, 5-2

Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Nevada Griffons right fielder and MINK League Player of the Week Michael Douglas connects for one of his two hits during Monday's game against the Joplin Outlaws.

Though it didn't start off quite as well as head coach Ryan Mansfield had hoped, the Nevada Griffons' longest homestand of the season ended as positively as it could Monday night, with a 5-2 victory over the Joplin Outlaws.

"Not too bad at all, Mansfield said. " We did a pretty good job tonight."

Monday's win was the fifth in as many nights for the Griffons, capping off a six-game homestand in which the Griffons won five consecutive games after dropping the opener to MINK League South Division rival Sedalia by a final score of 6-5. Over the next five games, the Griffons outscored the opposition, 46-20, winning all five games by an average of more than five runs.

Nevada Griffons center fielder Chris Scroggins connects for his only hit of the night in Monday's game against the Joplin Outlaws.

The recent tear the Griffons have been on has seen them jump from tied for the MINK League South Division lead with the Bombers after Sedalia's win last Wednesday to two games up with just three weeks left in the season. In the final three weeks of the season, the Griffons are scheduled to meet the Bombers four more times -- twice at home and twice in Sedalia.

Monday marked the second time the Griffons had taken on the Outlaws in three nights and the second of four scheduled meetings between the two squads in less than a week. Though the Griffons still got the win, things didn't end nearly as well Monday as when the two squads first met on Saturday and the Griffons took a dominant victory by a final score of 11-1.

"Obviously, I'd like to get a lot more offense than what we had," Mansfield said. "After last night, I'll take what we can get and all we need is one more run than they get at the end of the night."

Though the scores were dramatically different, one thing about the week's first two games between Joplin and Nevada was the same. As they have been known to do on a number of occasions throughout the course of the season, the Griffons once again let the Outlaws get on the board first, forcing themselves to play from behind.

Nevada starter J.D. Hammer got off to a rocky start, allowing the Outlaws to plate two runs on a single by Enrique Finol and a double steal that brought home Kyle Dickens. Those two runs, however, were the only blemishes on Hammer's record throughout the night as he went on to retire 10 of the next 11 batters to come to the plate for Joplin.

Hammer finished the night allowing just two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks for his third win in four decisions on the year.

"Hammer did a pretty good job tonight on the mound," Mansfield said of the 6-foot, 3-inch Navarro College product.

Matt Hilston wasted little time getting the Griffons on the board in the home half of the first, belting a solo home run off of Joplin starter Chad Bradford. Fico Kondla completed the comeback for the Griffons in the home half of the second when he came around to score on the games first error by Joplin shortstop Nick Moore to knot the score at 2-2.

"Obviously, we put up a couple runs off the long ball, but that's one of those, we need to make sure we get guys on ahead of them if guys are swinging it well," Mansfield said. "And we didn't do that tonight."

The Griffons took the lead for good in the home half of the third when Jack Goihl singled home Michael Douglas to make it 3-2. Caleb Mitchell brought home the fourth run of the night in the fourth when he drove in Chris Scroggins with a fielder's choice to give the Griffons a two-run cushion.

Douglas -- the current MINK League player of the week -- put a cap on the offense for the Griffons in the seventh when he belted a homer of his own to give the Griffons what ultimately became the final advantage at 5-2. That homer was the league-leading sixth of the year for Douglas and lifted his RBI total to 22 on the year, which is tied with Hilston for the team lead.

"Dougie's been swinging the bat well," Mansfield said. "He's a pretty solid player."

Aside from being a "solid player," however, Mansfield said it's Douglas' playful nature and personality that really make him a true standout on the squad.

"The guy's a character," Mansfield said. "He's something else."

With the win, the Griffons improved to 19-9 overall on the season, 17-9 in League play, and were scheduled to take a day off Tuesday. Next on the schedule for the Griffons is Wednesday night, when they head to Pittsburg, Kan., to take on the Outlaws once more.

First pitch in Wednesday's contest is set for 7 p.m.

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