Errors, missed scoring chances lead to 6-4 setback
by Hobby King/SPORTS EDITOR
In front of a Senior Night crowd at the Marshall Sports Complex Tuesday, the Marshall Owls were hoping to break into the win column in the North Central Missouri Conference.
However, the Moberly Spartans took advantage of three Owls’ errors and pitched out of some jams and won the conference battle 6-4.
Marshall head coach Paul Alberson was disappointed in the way the game played out.
“It’s what’s cost us all year,” he said. “Those are plays we make all the time. We do them in practice and shown that we’re capable of making those plays. If we make the two plays on the infield and two catches in the outfield, and it’s a completely different game.
“I’ve just got to them to understand that we’ve got to stay mentally checked in the entire game. We’re not a bad team. We put ourselves in a situation where we probably should’ve won that game 4-2. But with the errors behind us, we lose 6-4.
“That’s the way it’s been all year, and I haven’t done a good job of fixing that, and that’s on me. The good thing is, we’re a fairly young team. These kids come in and work hard. We’re going to get better.”
Each team scored a run in the second, but the Owls left runners on second and third.
The Spartans capitalized on one of the Marshall miscues to score three times in the third on one hit. Owl starter junior Aiden Coffman walked three and hit one in the frame, as well.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Owls, who lost to Moberly 7-1 in their first meeting on April 27 in Moberly, sent nine batters to the plate and scored three times. Freshman Brock Marshall and Coffman had base hits in the frame. They also drew four walks in the inning. But they left the sacks jammed when sophomore Parker Hisle flied out to shallow center field.
“You can go back to the first month of the season when we had a talk, and we talked about we were one hit away from pushing more runs across,” Alberson said. “We kept a lot of pressure on; we had a lot of guys left on base. We’re one hit shy of putting up a good, squirelly number, keeping the game in our control.
“We’ve tried to mix up our lineup, and it’s not just one person, it’s one through nine. We’re just one hit short.”
Moberly scored an insurance run in the sixth off relief pitcher freshman Brody Kueker. With runners on first and third, the runner on third, the runner on third was told to “GO” by the third base coach and took a few quick steps toward the plate. That coaxed Kueker into balking and the runner scored.
The Owls’ offense was shut down in the final three frames by freshman lefty Max Richardson. He retired the Owls in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“(He threw) nothing hard, but he was very good around the plate all the time, good off-speed stuff,” Alberson said. “We were just not patient enough to let the ball come to us and drive (it). We were out in front of everything. We just didn’t make solid contact.”
Each team finished with seven hits.
Seven different Spartans had hits, including a double by freshman Kyler Fanning and a triple from senior Braeden Hunt.
Marshall had two singles and junior Jayden Dominique a double for the Owls. Senior Jayden Edmund, freshman Chase Thompson, Coffman, senior Michael Carver had the other hits. Coffman scored twice and Dominique and sophomore courtesy runner Brock Rudd once each. Marshall, sophomore Ian Miles, Carver and Dominique had the RBIs.
Coffman allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits, two walks and two hit batters in five frames. He fanned one. Kueker gave up one earned run on four walks and struck out one over the final two frames.
Moberly improved to 5-5 in the NCMC and 15-12 overall.
The Owls finished their NCMC schedule 0-10. The 3-20 Owls played a non-conference game at Boonville Thursday.
The Owls are seeded fourth and play the No. 5-seeded Richmond Spartans (10-20 through Tuesday) in the first round of the Class 4, District 13 tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday. If the Owls win, they will tangle with the top-seeded Odessa Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. Monday. The Bulldogs (16-9 through Tuesday) are one of three teams with a first-round bye in the five-team bracket. The other byes are No. 2-seeded Boonville (12-10 through Tuesday) and third-seeded Oak Grove (12-12).