Capital City jumped ahead and stayed ahead.
The Cavaliers beat the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Tigers 10-3 on Wednesday at Capital City High School, claiming their first Central Missouri Activities Conference win of the season.
The Cavaliers took advantage of free passes to take the lead in the bottom of the first. After Noah Nicklas and Brock Miles both walked, Ben Turner sent a high-hopping grounder over the reach of the Tigers’ shortstop for a single, allowing Nicklas to score while Miles moved to third on an error by the left fielder.
“We played pretty good, offense we scored five of the six innings,” Capital City coach Brett Skinner said. “That gives you a chance to win a lot of games and takes pressure off our pitching and defense. It’s fun when you’re producing at the plate.”
Capital City added three more in the second.
Zach Brown was hit by a pitch, then Justin Sullens singled before Nicklas sent a soft grounder up the middle to score Brown. Sullens and Nicklas moved up to second and third when the throw home sailed to the backstop.
Both came around to score on Miles’ high hopper into left that turned into a two-RBI double.
“We were finding barrels, we were hitting balls hard,” Skinner said. “We did a good job working counts and getting guys on base.”
Brian Pace started on the mound for the Cavaliers and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing only one baserunner, before the Tigers were able to get a few across in the third.
Gavin Jackson and Malla’Ki Morris both singled, then advanced a base on a wild pitch before Jackson scored on an errant throw to second following the wild pitch. Morris ended up on third and scored on Ethan Perry’s groundout.
Kendall Hagedorn then doubled and scored on a Karson Evans single to cut the Cavalier lead to 4-3.
Capital City was able to add a run back to its lead in the third when Blake Holtmeyer reached base on an error, advanced on a Caydin Engelbrecht single through the left side and scored on a Sullens grounder through the right side.
Hayden Carroll came on to pitch the next three innings for Capital City, holding the Tigers scoreless while allowing only five baserunners, four on walks, and striking out four. He escaped having runners in scoring position when Engelbrecht ran down and made a full-extension diving catch in right center.
“Defense was big for us, we made a couple of big plays,” Skinner said. “Caydin Engelbrecht made a nice diving catch out there in center. It was one of the plays of the year for sure. If you make plays like that, it helps the pitcher out and he doesn’t have to throw as many pitches. I’m very pleased with the defense today.”
The Cavaliers added some insurance in the fifth when Engelbrecht led off with a hustle double, moved to third on a Carroll single and scored when Brown attempted a sacrifice safety squeeze.
Brown dropped the bunt down the first-base line, allowing Engelbrecht to score before the throw to first sailed into right field, allowing Carroll and Brown to advance and leave runners on second and third.
Sullens scored them both when he sent a liner just over the Tigers’ leaping second baseman and to the wall in right-center for a stand-up triple. Sullens then scored on a Nicklas liner off the Smith-Cotton pitcher for a single.
After the inning, Capital City led 9-3.
“Overall, just good approaches at the plate,” Skinner said.
The Cavaliers added another run in the sixth when Carroll doubled, moved to third on a Brown single and scored on a Sullens groundout.
Smith-Cotton took one back in the seventh on a Hagedorn double and an Evans single, but Colin Flaherty was able to shut the door for the Cavaliers, pitching the seventh and allowing one run on two hits with one strikeout.
“The pitchers came in and maybe didn’t have their ‘A’ stuff today, but they competed, attacked and trusted their defense,” Skinner said. “Overall, it was a good win, a good one to get back on track.”
Sullens had a triple and two singles to go with two RBI, while Nicklas had two hits, a walk and two RBI. Miles had two doubles and a walk to go with two RBI.
Capital City (6-11, 1-3 CMAC) will try for its second conference win when it hits the road to play Battle at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Smith-Cotton (3-17, 0-3 CMAC) will try to get back on track when it plays at Battle at 5:30 p.m. tonight.