Capital City baseball routs Waynesville 15-0 in three innings

Capital City third baseman Hayden Carroll throws the ball to first base during Tuesday night's game against Waynesville at Capital City High School. (Kyle McAreavy/News Tribune)
Capital City third baseman Hayden Carroll throws the ball to first base during Tuesday night's game against Waynesville at Capital City High School. (Kyle McAreavy/News Tribune)

It was a quick day at the office for the Capital City Cavaliers.

One night after being shutout by Blair Oaks, the Cavaliers walked off a 15-0, three-inning win against the Waynesville Tigers at Capital City High School.

“They just had to be patient and trust their hands and know they can let the ball get deep,” Capital City coach Brett Skinner said of the speedy win. “They did that. They didn’t get too antsy in there and it showed for sure. Even some of our outs were hard-hit balls.”

Trey Jennings, making his first start, set the Tigers down in order in the top of the first, then it didn’t take long for Capital City’s bats to come alive.

Justin Sullens led off the bottom half of the inning with a single, then Noah Nicklas worked a walk to put two runners on for Brock Miles.

Miles worked a 3-2 count, then sent a high fly ball just over the fence down the line in left field to put the Cavaliers up 3-0 through one inning.

Jennings got into a slight jam to start the second, allowing consecutive singles to Isaac Martinez and Ethan Heberling, but a flyout and a 4-6-3 double play ended the frame without the Tigers pushing a run across.

The Cavalier bats really got going in the second, sending 12 batters to the plate to combine for seven hits, a walk and a batter reaching on an error to plate seven runs and take a 10-0 lead.

Ben Turner highlighted the inning with a two-RBI double, while Blake Holtmeyer had an RBI double and Caydin Engelbrecht hit a two-RBI single. Zach Brown had two singles in the inning and an RBI.

Jennings came back out for the third after the extended offensive inning and showed no sign of rust, striking out the first two batters of the frame before forcing a groundout to end the inning.

“I thought Trey pitched really well,” Skinner said. “That was his first start of the year, he was dealing with some shoulder stuff at the beginning of the year. He threw last week in Warrensburg out of the pen and looked good so we gave him the start today and that’s encouraging going forward. We’ll need him this weekend.”

The Cavalier bats kept their momentum in the third, plating five runs on two hits and four walks.

Miles reached on a fielder’s choice, then Turner and Jamisen Schwarzer both walked to load the bases.

Miles crossed the plate on a wild pitch -- extending the lead to 11-0 -- which allowed Turner and Schwarzer to move to second and third, then Engelbrecht walked to load the bases again.

Hayden Carroll then singled up the middle to bring home Turner and Schwarzer, while Carroll and Engelbrecht moved to second and third on the throw home.

With only two runs needed to end the game early, Capital City brought in a couple of pinch hitters. Bryson Holtmeyer walked to load the bases, then Carter Heislen -- hitting for Sullens -- sent a hard ground ball through the right side of the infield that cleared the bases, but the second run ended the game, pushing the lead to 15-0.

“That was an awesome moment for him, he’s a senior and I’m just glad it was able to work out like that,” Skinner said. “He was able to get the job done and that’s awesome. That’s something he’s going to remember for the rest of his life.”

The Cavaliers totaled 12 hits and six walks in the effort, while three more runners reached, two on errors and one as a hit batter.

“The offense had an adjustment, I told them yesterday, facing Wil (Libbert’s) 92-94 mph and coming in here and seeing this, they made it look easy, but we could have easily rolled over or had lazy pop flies,” Skinner said. “They made the adjustment and they hit balls hard.”

Nicklas had a single and scored twice, while Miles reached base all three times he went to the plate with a home run and four RBI. Turner had a double, two RBI and two runs scored, Schwarzer had two walks and was hit by a pitch, Blake Holtmeyer had two hits, including a double, and an RBI, while Zach Brown had two singles, an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored.

Capital City (9-13) will head west to Kansas for the River City Festival in Lawrence starting Friday.

The Cavaliers will play four Kansas teams: Maize and Shawnee Mission West on Friday and Arkansas City and Lansing on Saturday.