Risco's Baker doing a lot for Tigers this spring

Risco High School junior Landon Baker watches his team compete from the on-deck circle recently against East Prairie at Risco.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

With three losses in its last four outings, the Risco High School baseball squad may be looking for some relief. However, the Tigers (4-3) won’t be getting any today, as they travel to Saxony Lutheran (3-3) at 4:30 p.m.

“Baseball is all about timely hitting,” veteran Risco coach Brandon Blankenship said following a recent loss to East Prairie.

Blankenship has gotten that out of junior Landon Baker this spring, and a whole lot more.

In seven games, Baker has totaled eight hits, including a double and a home run, driven in four runs, and scored three times.

“Landon does a little bit of everything for us,” Blankenship said earlier this season. “In the fall, he was probably the ace of our staff.”

Baker has been impressive on the mound, in particular in his first start of the spring against East Prairie.

Baker limited the Eagles to five hits in four innings and no earned runs.

“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.”

In his latest outing, Baker allowed three walks and has given up nine walks in 12 innings of work this spring. However, in those 12 innings, he has only allowed three earned runs and struck out 18 hitters.

Offensively, Baker has really made an impact, as noted. He has also drawn five walks and stole five bases, thus far.

“He is that middle-of-the-order guy that can do damage,” Blankenship said. “If you get guys on base in front of him, he can hit doubles, he can hit home runs, and just hit the ball hard.”

Baker also is strong defensively at his third base position, according to Blankenship, who also moves Baker to shortstop when starting shortstop Kadin Carlisle is on the mound.

“He plays a solid infield for us,” Blankenship said. “We can move him around.”

Risco will follow its game with the Crusaders with a home game against Puxico (0-3) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.