Carroll Merchants Results Monday, June 27th
Joplin At Carroll Merchants
Merchants 5
Joplin 1
Noah Buss hit a solo home run over the scoreboard in right field, Kaleb Freeman hit his second double of the game in the 8th inning, driving in a pair of runs as the Merchants scored 4-runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. Michael Alt battled at the plate for a base hit to keep the run going early in the 8th inning. Those were all crucial plays that helped the Merchants snap a five game losing streak. The play of the game, may have been in the 4th and it happened on defense. Sean Fagan doubled to start the inning for Joplin. After a line out to Jordan Matthewson at 2nd base for the first out. Cody Min hit a fly ball to right field. Kyle Berg drifted back and got behind the ball, allowing him to come forward on the catch. He threw a strike to 3rd base, throwing out Fagan to end the threat.
Kaleb Freeman led off the 2nd inning with a shot to the right-center field gap. Freeman moved to 3rd on a sac fly to right field by Jordan Matthewson and scored on a ground out to 3rd base by Garrett Freeman. The lead was almost all Morgan Smith needed in his first start of the season. Smith joined the team on Monday, getting to town at 4:00 and making the start at 6:35. He allowed a pair of singles in the 1st inning but struck out two batters in the first inning, two more in the 2nd inning and one in the 3rd inning, giving up just those two early hits. Joplin finally got to him in the 5th inning. He walked the lead off batter, then allowed a single and an RBI single, tying the game at 1. He allowed just two more hits over the next two innings and left after 7 strong innings with the game still tied at 1.
The Merchants scored their first run in the 2nd inning but left the bases loaded in that inning as well. They stranded two runners in both the 4th and 5th inning. They only had 3 hits, heading into the 8th inning but had walked eight times and were hit-by-pitch twice. They stranded two more runners in the 7th and left 13 on base for the game. Noah Buss ignited the offense in the 8th inning. He took a 3-1 pitch and drove it deep over the scoreboard in right field and the Merchants were up 2-1. Seth Christiansen followed that with a single and Andrew Schroeder walked to put two runners on. Michael Alt singled on an 0-2 count and the Merchants were up 3-1. Kaleb Freeman hit his second double, this time driving in two runs and the Merchants led 5-1. Alex Johnson walked the first batter in the 9th but got the next three guys out and the Merchants won 5-1.
Kaleb Freeman had 2 hits with both for doubles. He drove in a pair of runs and scored once. Michael Alt doubled and drove in a run. Noah Buss had a solo home run and Seth Christiansen and Jordan Rochester both finished 1-2. Morgan Smith went 7 innings, allowing 8 hits and 1 earned runs. He struck out 6 and only walked 1. Alex Johnson got the win, pitching the final 2 innings, striking out 2.
Merchant Stats
Andrew Schroeder 1 RS, 2 BB, SB
Michael Alt 1-3, 2B, RBI, RS, 2 BB
Parker Ingram 1-5
Kaleb Freeman 2-2, 2-2B, 2 RBI, RS, 2 BB
Jordan Matthewson 1 BB, SB
Garrett Freeman 1 RBI
Noah Buss 1-3, HR, RBI, RS
Jordan Rochester 1-2, SB
Seth Christiansen 1-2, RS
Kyle Berg 2 BB
Morgan Smith 7 IP, 8 Hits, 1 RA, 1 ER, 6 K’s, BB, HBP
Alex Johnson WP, 2 IP, 2 K’s, BB
Box Score
Teams 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Final
Joplin 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Carroll 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 x 5
