Sophomore Gavyn Beckner homered, drove in two runs, and pitched five solid innings to earn the win in a 7-1 Republic victory at Branson.
Before Beckner had even stepped onto the mound, he had given himself the lead with a solo home run on the top of the first inning. The Tigers scored three more – two on an RBI double by Connor Sandridge and one on an RBI single by Richard Potter, to take a 4-0 lead after a half inning.
That was more than enough for Beckner, who shut down the Pirates, scattering four base hits over five innings and striking out seven. He didn’t walk a batter. Beckner threw 61 pitches, and 44 of them were strikes.
Brady Usgaard came in to pitch two shutout innings to close out the victory. He walked two, allowed one hit, and struck out two.
Republic increased its lead to 6-0 with a two-run fifth inning. Ryker Harrington reached base on a dropped third strike and scored on a double by Kyle Hill. Hill came into score after a wild pitch and an error by the catcher.
Branson scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Tigers got it back in the sixth, when Bryce Messier scored on an RBI groundout by Beckner.
Sandridge and Beckner each had two base hits and drove in two runs for Republic.
Beckner improved to 4-1, dropping his ERA for the season to 2.78.
Republic is 10-6 overall, and 4-0 in the Central Ozark Conference. The Tigers travel to Carthage Thursday.