NEOSHO, Mo. — Joplin and Neosho high schools met for a Central Ozark Conference battle Tuesday evening at Neosho Junior High. Both teams were led by their starting pitchers' performance on the mound.
Those pitchers were Drake Jennings for the Wildcats (13-7) and David Bhend for the Eagles (10-7). The difference came down to one big swing for Neosho that put it ahead 3-1 in the fourth inning and that was enough to earn the win.
The game was scoreless heading into the third inning.
With one out and the bases loaded, Bhend struck out. Then, showing patience, Joplin's Daniel Rose drew a walk to bring home the game's first run.
The inning ended with a pop out to first base by Jacob Porter.
"I thought we were in a good spot. We should've scratched off a few more in that inning with the bases loaded like that and one out," Joplin head coach Chase Kilgore said. "When you get the lead like that, in a competitive conference like this, you have to be able to go out and put up a zero, and we let them right back in it."
In the home half of the inning, Bhend had two outs on the Wildcats with two runners aboard. Tevin Beaver lined a single over the third baseman's head to score a run from second base, and then the baserunner from first tried to advance to third base on the throw home but was cut down to end the inning with the score tied at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth, Joplin's Jensen Stout launched a pitch from Jennings into deep left field that sent Wyatt Woodward tracking back toward the fence.
On the run and just a bit shy of the fence, Woodward reeled in Stout's fly ball for the second out of the inning.
"We flashed the glove today and made big plays when we had to," Neosho head coach Keith Kilgore said. "It was a total team effort today."
And it's a good thing. Joplin's next two batters, Jaxon Landis and Hayden Wolf, singled into right field, which would have scored Stout had the ball gotten down for extra bases on his long drive.
Instead, Jennings got Layne Royle to ground out to second base to end the threat and get the Wildcats back to the plate.
The Neosho pitcher helped his own cause in the bottom of the fourth. He laid down a bunt about halfway between home plate and the pitcher's mound that was just slightly to the third base side. Bhend sprinted down the mound and made an off-balance throw to first base that pulled Landis off and allowed Jennings to reach safely.
With one out, Woodward lined a ball sharply to right field for a single to put two runners on for Cooper Charlton.
Charlton was fighting from behind in the count with two strikes on him and slapped an outside pitch foul just beyond the left field line. The left-handed hitter stayed alert for another chance to go that direction.
"I was just looking more fastball than anything. His off-speed moves a lot and you just have to be ready for the fastball to hit it," Charlton said.
"I just thought it was a normal pop fly and it just kept flying," he added.
It flew to right in front of the fence in the left center field gap. It bounced to the fence and scored two runs to give Neosho a 3-1 lead.
"We needed a big at-bat. Over the last few games, those have been hard to come by," Keith Kilgore said. "We knew we weren't going to score many runs going against an arm like we faced today."
Bhend worked out of the inning after that, and the pitchers' duel continued as neither offense was able to produce in the final three innings.