After an impressive run through the Class 6 District 6 Tournament, Joplin baseball is peaking at the right time.
Joplin, playing as the fifth seed, knocked off Neosho 6-1 in the district opener, Kickapoo 2-0 in the district semifinals and Nixa 3-1 in the district title to earn the right to play in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament with a matchup against Blue Springs South.
“I thought we did a tremendous job going into that tournament,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “It was just a lot of fun and I am very proud of the kids and the effort that they put forth to win three quality games in a really good district.”
Starting pitching has been a major strength for the Eagles all season, and that showed back up in the postseason. Starting pitchers Brecken Green, David Bhend and Landry Wilson combined to pitch all 21 total innings, allowing just two runs all tournament.
“When you go through those three lineups and you've thrown three guys, you've done something pretty special that week,” Wolf said. “Just a tip of the hat to our guys. And our pitchers that threw would be the first to tell you that the defense that they played that they had behind them had a lot to do with their success because not only did they make plays, but it gave them confidence to throw strikes and know that we were going to not only make the routine play, but we made some special plays throughout the week, too.”
That pitching depth will be needed in the quarterfinal round, which has a new format. Now, instead of one game, Class 5 and Class 6 have moved to a best-two-out-of-three series.
“I think that throughout the course of the year, you play 30 some games and you work on developing a deep pitching staff to be able to carry that many games,” Wolf said when asked about the new format. “How it was prior, you could basically ride one guy from the district to the quarterfinals, to the semifinals, and then maybe, you know, have to throw another guy in the championship if you got that far. This kind of allows for not only a team effort to try to get yourself to the semifinals, but the other thing this time of the year, baseball players aren't used to having days off. And the way it was set up, you basically had a week off, played a game and then had another week off.”
The first game against the Jaguars is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, with the following two games (if needed) played Saturday at noon and 2:30 p.m.
“They're a very talented group,” Wolf said. “I'll be honest. They're capable of manufacturing some runs and finding some ways to score. I think they're very solid defensively and do things the right way.”