Cassville pitcher Brice Slavens was cruising with a one-hitter through five innings Tuesday against the Jefferson City Renegades. His day changed course in the sixth inning.
Slavens faced seven batters in the inning, unable to record another out.
All seven batters scored in a seven-run frame, which propelled the Renegades to a 9-6 win at Vivion Field in non-MINK League play to wrap up the first half of the season.
"Unfortunately, we've given up enough crooked numbers. We know what it does to us," Renegades managers Mike DeMilia said. "Being down 4-0, we could have easily panicked and freaked out, but we just kept plugging away.
"I felt confident that we could get something going, but in baseball, you just never know if you're going to get the bounces. Tonight, we got bounces when we needed them."
Jefferson City trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth. Hunter Southerland led off with a walk and back-to-back singles by Anthony Green and Mason Price loaded the bases.
Jady Reese punched a single through the left side of the infield to drive in the Renegades' first run and Nolan Sachse followed with a high chopper over the third baseman's head for another RBI single, making the score 4-2.
The next batter, Brandon Beeler, singled into right-center field to score another run. Reese scored from second base on an overthrow to home plate to tie the game at 4.
"Once the inning got going, we starting feeling that energy," said Reese, who went 2-for-3 and reached base in all four of his plate appearances. "We played harder, ran the bases more aggressively, getting a little bit of energy in the dugout."
Beeler's single was the Renegades' fifth consecutive hit off Slavens, who exited the game after allowing a walk to Jordan Smith to load the bases again with no outs in the sixth.
"We started looking for our pitches instead of going and trying to hit his pitches," Reese said. "It's a lot harder to hit pitchers' pitches than it is to hit the ones going down the middle, so we started looking for our pitches to hit."
Alex Dyer relieved Slavens in the sixth. Josh Estrada broke the tie with a two-run double off the left-center field fence and Southerland followed with an RBI groundout to make the score 7-4.
While the seven-run inning put the Renegades ahead for good, DeMilia said the top of the fifth was the turning point for the Renegades.
Relief pitcher Collin Crook, who picked up the win in his debut Tuesday with the Renegades, needed just four pitches to get through the fifth, followed by a five-pitch sixth inning.
"Baseball is a game of momentum," DeMilia said. " Everyone is gong to focus on the seven-run inning, but he held them there and swung the momentum for us."
Crook relieved starter Christian Thrasher - who walked five and struck out five - with two outs in the third inning. After allowing an RBI single to Marcus Crawford, Brian DeVivo smashed a three-run home run to left field off Crook to give the Arrows a 4-0 lead.
Crook settled down after that, pitching 3 innings of relief. He allowed just one more hit after the homer and finished with two walks and one strikeout.
"After I got past the initial nerves, I just went back to my game of pounding the zone and throwing strikes," Crook said.
The Renegades tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth. Smith scored on a wild pitch and Ty Roseberry scored on an error to increase the lead to 9-5.
Luke Hampton picked up the save, inducing a double play to end the game after allowing a run.
Sachse had a multi-hit game for Jefferson City. In addition to his RBI single in the sixth, he had the only hit off Slavens through five innings with a bloop single into right field in the second.
Jefferson City (13-18 overall, 10-17 MINK League) will have back-to-back days off due to the MINK League All-Star break. The Renegades return to the field Friday, when they host the Joplin Outlaws to start the second half of the season with a four-game homestand. The Renegades are in third place in the South Division going into the two-day break.
"This was Game 31 in 35 days, so it's a lot of ball," DeMilia said. " You never want too big of a break in baseball, because it's a rhythm sport, but it's definitely nice having a couple of days of getting off our feet. Hopefully we're ready to go this weekend."