Eagles grounded

Fifth inning dooms NMCC as Kennett takes 14-3 win

sports@standard-democrat.com

NEW MADRID -- Holding visiting Kennett to a one-run game through four innings of play, the New Madrid County Central Eagles saw things quickly turn south in a fifth inning they'd like to forget.

Marred by defensive errors and problems on the mound, the Eagles surrendered 10 runs in that fateful frame, resulting in a 14-3 mercy-rule loss that leaves them winless in SEMO Conference play.

"You have to pick it up and come back tomorrow," NMCC head coach Joseph McClarty said. "We have a game (today) and you have to have a short memory with this game. A couple breaks here and there and maybe it's different."

Things appeared to head in the right direction for the Eagles until the fifth inning even though they fell behind 4-0 to start the game.

A solo home run from JaShawn McDaniel in the bottom of the second put NMCC on the board and a two-run rally in the fourth made it 4-3.

It was with a pair of leadoff runs reaching in the top of the fifth, however, that the Indians began their final assault.

By the end of the rally, a total of 10 runners had crossed the plate on six hits and four walks. Of those 10, nine came across with less than two outs as Kennett came just three batters short of batting around the order twice.

"We swung the bats well that inning," Indians' head coach Aaron New said. "Some guys came through with some big hits and we were able to push the game out of reach."

With the mercy-rule in effect, Kennett turned to reliever Bron McPherson to close out the conference win. McPherson struck out his first batter before surrendering a walk to McDaniel.

Back-to-back NMCC ground outs squashed any hopes of extending the game with a rally as Kennett secured the win.

"We swung that bats a little bit better and played a little better defensively today," New said. "We've been on a little bit of a slide here so it was good to see us come back and be pretty competitive.

"One thing we've been pretty good at is giving people things and today whenever they gave us a little bit we were able to take advantage of it."

One thing the Indians were able to use to their advantage was the seven free passes the Eagles pitching issued to them. Five of those who reached on walks came around to score, including three of the game's first four runs.

Earning the win was Kennett starter Payton Raspberry who allowed three runs in four innings of work. He gave up five hits and four walks while striking out five.

At the plate the Indians (9-5) outhit the Eagles 9-5 and were led by Kevonte Mitchell, who went 2 for 2 while also drawing a pair of walks and scoring two runs. Tyson Campbell had two hits and drove in a pair of runs with Trevor Shaver providing Kennett their lone extra-base hit, a double.

For NMCC (8-6), McDaniel and Lane Chamberlain had a home run and double respectively. Dylan Milisits, Tim Clayton and Logan Frazier had a single each to round out the Eagles' offense.

"Our kids battled hard up to the fifth inning," McClarty said. "Kennett's bats got to going and I think our pitcher started tiring a little bit. We were already short on pitching from the weekend.

"The kids played hard, we just got some bad breaks there in the fifth inning."

Next up, the Eagles will host Cape Central today at 4 p.m.

Kennett 130 0(10) -- 14

NMCC 010 20 - 3

WP -- Payton Raspberry. LP -- Logan Frazier. Multiple hitters: (K) Kevonte Mitchell 2-2, Tyson Campbell 2-4. 2B -- (K) Trevor Shaver; (N) Lane Chamberlain. HR -- (N) JaShawn McDaniel.