Sloppy start proves costly for Risco in 4-0 L to East Prairie

East Prairie junior pitcher Winfield White throws against Risco in relief on Wednesday at Risco High School.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

RISCO – Baseball is a game of fundamentals and when a team lacks those – even for a brief moment – it can prove costly.

Risco learned that lesson on Wednesday, as it struggled through an opening inning against East Prairie, and it ultimately cost the hosts, as the Eagles earned a 4-0 victory.

“In that first inning,” veteran Tiger coach Brandon Blankenship said, “when (pitcher Landon Baker) got several ground balls, we’ve got to get outs on those.”

East Prairie (5-3) opened the game with a leadoff single from junior Noah Johnson, which was followed by a walk drawn by senior Hunter Newton.

A wild pitch from Baker allowed both runners to move up a bag while a Tiger error scored both for a 2-0 Eagle lead and allowed junior Ty Wallace to reach on an infield hit.

With two outs, East Prairie junior Winfield White drove a ball hard into the Risco infield deep enough to score Wallace for a 3-0 lead and the damage was done for the Tigers.

“Those were infield hits,” Blankenship continued, “and they were kind of tough. We made a couple of errors, so we’ve got to clean those up.”

From that point on, it was a 1-0 game through the final six innings, as both Eagle thrower Wallace and Baker were pretty impressive.

Wallace worked five innings and allowed six hits and no runs while walking just one.

He struck out eight Risco batters, which is a couple more than what Blankenship said was his goal in each outing.

“He just pounded the strike zone,” veteran East Prairie coach Gary Scott said of Wallace. “He gets ahead in the count, and he is able to mix in his breaking ball, his off-speed stuff.

“He keeps the defense on their toes.”

White closed the game with a couple of innings of work and didn’t allow a hit or a run while walking one and striking out three.

Baker didn’t allow an earned run in four innings while he gave up five hits.

He walked three and struck out five.

“I thought (Baker) was solid,” Blankenship said. “You want to get on top of hitters with that first pitch strike, and then you want to get that first guy of the inning out, and we have struggled a little bit with that.”

Johnson paced the Eagle (5-3) offense with a couple of hits to go with his two runs and a walk while Newton (one run, one walk), Wallace (one run, two RBI), Owen Knight (one hit), White (one hit, one RBI), Houstin Henderson (one hit), Chase Childers (one hit), and Rayne Jernigan (one hit, one walk) also contributed.

Baker led the Tigers (4-3) with a pair of hits while Kadin Carlisle (one hit, one walk), Eli Rodgers (one hit, one walk), and CJ Blankenship (two hits) were also productive.

Risco will visit Saxony Lutheran (3-3) on April 3 at 4:30 p.m.

East Prairie will host Scott City (6-1) today at 4:30 p.m.