Nevada wins relocated battle of Tigers, 4-0

Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Fort Scott's Benjamin Labbe tries to tag out Nevada's Lane Ketterman at third base in the fourth inning of Tuesday's varsity game at Lyons Stadium in Nevada. In the battle of Tigers, Nevada won 4-0. (Ralph Pokorny/Nevada Daily Mail)

NEVADA -- The box score from Tuesday evening's game might deceive those who see it.

Fort Scott High out-hit host Nevada 10-6 and put an army's worth of runners on base. But the Tigers were unable to score as the hosts won 4-0.

"Fort Scott's a good baseball team," Nevada head coach Danny Penn said. "When we were expecting to go over there, we knew we'd be in for a good baseball game. We're a little bit more comfortable at home, obviously, but all the same, we knew that Fort Scott's a good team."

Tuesday's game was originally scheduled to be played in Fort Scott, but with hail damage at Lions Field and power lines down at Ty Cullor Field, Fort Scott and Nevada High School officials decided to move the game here.

In return, the game originally scheduled to be played in Nevada on April 26 has been moved to Fort Scott.

Fort Scott (3-3) had little trouble getting runners on throughout the early innings, but simply couldn't bring them around. On two different occasions, Nevada starter Cole Sanderson found himself having to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam and was able to do so both times.

"Cole made pitches when he had to," Penn said. "He was able to get ahead. He was able to get early outs in the inning without getting into trouble early."

Through the first four innings of the contest, Fort Scott had a total of 10 runners, but still showed nothing for it on the scoreboard. By game's end, Sanderson had pitched his way out of four different jams that featured multiple baserunners. Fort Scott ended up stranding 12 baserunners.

Nevada (7-2) struggled throughout the day on the offensive side of the ball, managing just three hits through the first five innings. Those hits came at opportune times in the first and fifth innings, though, allowing Nevada to plate a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

"The pitcher today, (Mason) Knopp, he did a good job of keeping us off balance," Penn said. "He didn't have a great curveball, but it was sharp enough and he threw it hard enough that it kind of fell off the table there at the last second and it was just enough to keep our hitters off balance."

Grant Wolfe and Morgan Long each tallied RBI hits for Nevada in the sixth inning, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead, which held up as the final margin.

Fort Scott will hopefully get a chance to play its first home games -- this was the second time the location has been switched due to field conditions -- when Paola visits for a 4:30 p.m. Thursday doubleheader. The Panthers swept a doubleheader at Chanute Tuesday night by scores of 13-2 and 10-6.