18U Baseball Team Finishes 2-2 At Tourney
After losing its first two games of the Coffeyville Junior College Showcase on June 6, the McDonald County 18U baseball team bounced back with wins over Seneca and Neosho on June 7 to finish the tournament with a 2-2 record.
After losing its first two games of the Coffeyville Junior College Showcase on June 6, the McDonald County 18U baseball team bounced back with wins over Seneca and Neosho on June 7 to finish the tournament with a 2-2 record.
In its first game on June 7, Cross Dowd led McDonald County to a 5-0 win over Seneca with a complete-game three-hitter. The sophomore-to-be at MCHS struck out 14 in seven innings while walking just one.
McDonald County scored all five of its runs in the fourth inning. Jackson Behm reached on an error to start the inning. Dowd struck out but reached when the third strike got past the Seneca catcher. Cole Martin followed with a single to drive in the first run of the game before Ryan Kline was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Nevin Price drove in a run when he reached on an error allowing another run to score. A wild throw on a double steal led to another run before the final run of the inning scored when Jack Parnell’s ground ball to the pitcher was thrown away.
Martin finished with two hits to lead the offense, while Destyn Dowd, Junior Eliam, Colton Ruddick and Price had one each.
Neosho
McDonald County scored six runs in the first inning and held on for an 11-7 win over Neosho in its second game of the day. Weston Gordon got the win, allowing seven runs in three innings before Destyn Dowd shut out Neosho over the final two innings.
Jackson Behm led off the game with a single to start McDonald County’s big first inning. After Behm stole second and reached third on a wild throw, Cross Dowd singled in the game’s first run. Kline followed with a single to put runners on first and third.
With two out, Gordon doubled to drive in two runs. Price and Isaac Behm walked to load the bases before Wade Rickman’s single to center got by the center-fielder
allowing three runs to score.
Neosho answered with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the first.
But McDonald County came back with three more runs in the top of the second. Cross Dowd’s single and a walk to Kline led to two runs when Neosho committed three errors on one play after Logan Harriman grounded to third base. Gordon then drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single.
Neosho closed to 9-7 in the third, but McDonald County scored two runs in the fifth to regain control. Harriman had a single, while Price and Rickman added RBI singles to key the inning.
Destyn Dowd struck out two, walked one and allowed one hit in two innings of relief to get the save.
Northeast Oklahoma
Prospects
McDonald County lost both of its two games on June 6 to begin the tournament.
Riley Boyd took the loss in the opener, a 9-1 loss to the Northeast Oklahoma Prospects. Boyd allowed three runs in three-plus innings on just one hit.
The Prospects scored single runs in the first and second without the benefit of a hit. Boyd walked three and hit a batter in the two innings to help stake Northeast Oklahoma to a 2-0 lead. The Prospects took a 3-0 lead in the third with its only hit off Boyd after a walk and hit batter.
After walking the leadoff batter in the fourth, Ethan Francisco relieved Boyd. Francisco walked the first batter he faced before getting out of the inning with just one run scoring.
McDonald County scored its only run of the game in the top of the fifth. Nevin Price and Cole Martin walked to lead off the inning. With one out, Logan Harriman walked to load the bases. Cross Dowd then drove in Price with a groundout to shortstop.
The Prospects added six runs in the bottom half of the inning to seal their win. Three walks and three hits, including a bases-loaded triple keyed the big inning.
McDonald County was held to just one hit, a fourth-inning double by Colton Ruddick.
Southwest Missouri Bullpen
A team of players from East Newton, Monett, Aurora, Mount Vernon and Carthage defeated McDonald County 14-1 in the second game.
The Southwest Missouri Bullpen scored seven runs in the first inning off McDonald County starter Jackson Behm. Behm allowed three hits and three walks and hit a batter before little brother Isaac came in to get the final two outs of the inning, allowing only one walk.
Southwest Missouri added two runs in the third and sealed the win with five runs in the fourth, two coming off a two-run homer over the right-field wall before Price came in to get the final out of the inning.
McDonald County scored its only run of the game in the bottom half of the inning on singles by Jackson Behm and Junior Eliam and a bases-loaded walk to Harriman.
McDonald County was in Joplin on June 10 for an 8-on-8 league game.
Joplin
Iron Byron (pitching machine) held McDonald County to eight hits while striking out 16 in Joplin’s 5-2 win in McDonald County’s first game of Joplin’s 8-on-8 league held at Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin.
Joplin scored a run in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie. They added a single run in the ninth and three more in the 10th to take a 5-0 lead.
McDonald County scored its only runs of the game in the 11th on a single by Eliam, a double by Harriman and RBI singles by Price and Rickman.
Rickman finished with two hits to lead McDonald County, while Weston Gordon, Levi Helm, Jackson Behm, Martin, Eliam, Harriman and Price had one each.
The format is 65-minute games with each team getting two innings at-bat before switching from offense to defense.