Jul. 6—In a tight pitcher’s duel, the Nevada Griffons topped the Joplin Outlaws 4-3 in 10 innings thanks to a sacrifice fly from Matthew Leong in MINK League action on Monday night at Joe Becker Stadium.
The top of the frame started with a strikeout of Kahle Good for Nevada (11-14), but Jesse Fonteboa worked a one out walk to spark the rally. Nick Chavez and Tyler Davis followed with back-to-back singles to put Fonteboa within striking distance of scoring at third.
Then in the bottom half of the frame, Nevada’s closer Cameron Saso fanned two batters and induced a groundout to notch his third save of the season.
The Outlaws grabbed ahold of the early lead when Logan Cline belted his second home run of the summer in the bottom of the first inning. But the Griffons responded with a three-run fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
Tyler Davis came across on a fielding error to start the scoring for Nevada, while Saso added an RBI single. Jack Swisher capped the big inning with a sac fly.
Joplin tied the contest with two tallies in the bottom of the seventh. Jared Toler blasted his first long ball of the season, and Jeb Jenkins knotted the score up with an RBI one-bagger.
Sebastian Kirchner was the winning pitcher for the Griffons. He struck out four batters while throwing up zeros in the eighth and ninth. Richard Kiel gave up three runs through seven strong innings of work.
Davis paced the way offensively for Nevada with two of their seven hits.
Justin Schrader suffered the tough-luck loss for the Outlaws (10-10). Schrader’s outing was highlighted by six punchouts in three innings, but his only blemish was the game-winning sac fly to Leong in the 10th.
In addition to Cline and Toler’s home runs, Cam Pfafman doubled for Joplin.
Nevada travels to the Sedalia Bombers to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Outlaws host the Jefferson City Renegades at the same time and day.