Jayhawks too much for MV

MOUND CITY — Marmaton Valley High’s baseball team struggled on defense in its season opener Tuesday.
The rest of the team struggled in all aspects of their second game.
The Wildcats fell to host Jayhawk-Linn, 15-2, in the opener and 21-0 in the nightcap.
“The first couple innings went pretty well,” Wildcat head coach Derek Scharff said.
But a pair of mistakes in the field meant Marmaton Valley trailed 6-2 after those two innings.
“We should have gone into the third inning tied at 2,” Scharff said.
The Jayhawks put the game away with a five-run third and a four-run fourth.
Sage Hall took the loss, despite allowing only five hits. He walked six and struck out four.
“Sage pitched a good game,” Scharff said. “He struggled at times with his command but worked through it. We have to do a better job behind him in the field and make plays.”
Keagan Boyd had two hits, including a triple, with an RBI. Hall singled twice, walked and scored a run. Gage Adams, Chris Bowman and Colton Alexander also singled. Alexander added an RBI. Greg Neria reached base twice and scored a run.
Marmaton Valley left the bases loaded twice.
“We have to capitalize on those innings and get some more runs,” Scharff said. “Our mistakes in the field took us out of this game.”
The Jayhawks led 13-0 after one inning and 21-0 after two in the nightcap.
“We struggled with all aspects,” Scharff said. “Our young pitchers struggled throwing strikes, and when they did, we weren’t making plays behind them. We had an opportunity to get out of the first inning down just 1-0, but gave up 12 unearned runs. Our young guys need to get some confidence and just throw strikes. We didn’t have many plate appearances, so it’s hard to judge.”
Boyd and Jake Kress had singles for Marmaton Valley in the second game.
“We had a few go down looking, and we can’t do that,” Scharff said. “We have to do a better job with two strikes. We have a lot of work to do. We play these guys the last game of the season, so we will see how much we improve.”