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Tigers drop conference contest to Smith-Cotton, 4-1
Despite an improved showing the Nevada Tigers fell short, 4-1, against West Central Conference power Smith-Cotton High School Friday evening in Sedalia.
Smith-Cotton entered the contest 10-0 in WCC-play, defeating opponents by an average of 10 runs per game. In their first meeting this season, April 14 in Nevada, Smith-Cotton rolled to a 16-2 victory. With this loss Nevada falls to 7-5 overall (2-4 WCC), while Smith-Cotton improves to 14-7 (11-0 WCC).
Nevada’s bats were stymied by Smith-Cotton starting pitcher Baxter Mays, who tossed a seven inning complete-game. Mays, who entered the game with a microscopic 1.45 ERA, held the Tigers to just four hits.
“We struggled to piece together much offensively,” said Nevada head coach Danny Penn. “We had a few good swings, but didn’t do a great job of working counts.”
Mays was shaky in the first inning, hitting the first two batters he faced. Nevada, however was unable to capitalize as Mays induced a double play followed by another ground out to get out of the inning unscathed.
Starting for Nevada was Payton Bright, who entered the contest with a pristine 3-0 record and 3.34 ERA. Bright didn’t encounter trouble until the bottom of the second, when junior third baseman Tyler Abney singled to left field, plating Brandon Neale.
Smith-Cotton tacked on a run in the third via Neale’s bloop RBI-single into shallow right, as Smith-Cotton led 2-0.
Neale collected his second RBI of the contest in the fifth, as a single into left-center field scored Gavin Jones, handing Smith-Cotton a 3-0 advantage.
With Mays having cruised through five innings, Nevada was finally able to get on the board in the sixth, as Logan Armstrong reached base to lead off the inning, and was later plated on a Braeden Hinton single, trimming the Smith-Cotton lead to 3-1.
Sedalia answered back in the home-half of the sixth with a run to stretch its lead back to three. Mays returned to the mound for the seventh, closing the door on Nevada after retiring the side in order.
Bright, who lasted six innings, was forced to work around three Nevada errors. Penn said he was pleased with Bright’s effort, as the senior stranded nine runners.
“I thought Payton did a great job of limiting damage and keeping us in the game,” Penn said. “There were numerous times when they could have blown the game open, but he kept us in it.”
Penn continued: “It was an odd game defensively. There were a lot of plays that were out there to be made that we missed –– but we also made some very good defensive plays.”
Up next
The Tigers have a quick turnaround, as they face Clinton today in a WCC road-matchup. The first pitch is slated for 11 a.m.
Senior Night
Nevada then returns to Lyons Stadium on Monday for Senior Night, as the Tigers host Archbishop O’Hara for a West Central Conference twinbill.
The first pitch is set for 6 p.m.