One day after driving into the record books by clinching their first outright COC title since 1977, the Tigers ran out of gas in Webb City. Pitcher Cole Gayman struck out 15 Republic batters and the Cardinals handed Republic its first conference loss, 8-0, Thursday.
Webb City scored two runs in the first inning off Republic starter Vincent Pyeatt, and that would have been plenty for Gayman, who was dominant from the beginning. Of the first 15 outs he recorded, 14 of them were strikeouts. He had struck out every batter in Republic’s lineup at least once by the middle of the fourth inning. The Tigers managed just four base hits all night, two of them by Ryker Harrington.
As good as Gayman was, Republic’s energetic sprint to the top of the COC standings – and its emotional win over Nixa last night – may have finally taken a toll on the team. Republic made four errors in addition to other uncharacteristic misplays in the field.
“I told the kids that I’m tired, so I can only imagine how they felt, because they’d been playing and I haven’t,” said coach Curt Plotner. “But we’re in a good league, and you’re going to play quality opponents every night. And (Gayman) was about as good as anybody I’ve seen on the mound all year. So sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap, and you get beat.”
The loss ended the Tigers’ quest for the first undefeated COC season in program history, but it didn’t have any real impact on their conference season, because Republic had locked up the championship last night with a 6-4 win against Nixa. And Plotner told his players it doesn’t change anything about their season going forward.
“I told them, “This loss doesn’t change anything that you guys set out to do. You still won the conference. The district is still in play. All those things are, are still attainable. So it’s a loss, but it doesn’t keep us from getting where we want to be at the end,” Plotner said.
The loss ended a nine-game winning streak for Republic, the longest streak since the team won 10 in a row in 2008. The Tigers fall to 16-7. They’ll travel to McDonald County for a varsity game Friday evening.
