Bloomfield baseball team beats state-ranked Holcomb 9-2, suffers 2-0 loss to NMCC

Note: 46 photos of the Malden baseball tournament are available at this link: See Photos Here

Editor's note: This story will also be available in the Tuesday morning print edition of Dexter Daily Statesman.

MALDEN, Mo. - Bloomfield Wildcats baseball coach Tyler Trover felt it was time to stop the bleeding after his team suffered a 2-0 loss to New Madrid County Central in its first of two scheduled games at the Malden tournament Saturday.

The tourniquet he chose for the task was staff ace Tim Fox.

"We needed to stop the bleeding," Trover said. "We didn't feel real good after the first game and needed a strong performance from a senior and Fox has kind of led us this year."

Fox led the way with a complete-game performance on the hill against Holcomb.

The Bloomfield offense took care of the rest by calculating eight runs in the top of the first inning on its way to a 9-2 victory against the state-ranked Holcomb Hornets.

"Their pitchers were struggling with control and I was proud of how we were disciplined enough to layoff some pitches," Trover said. "Fortunately, we were able to score runs early."

The Wildcats scored five runs before Holcomb recorded an out in the top of the first inning. Alex Gibbs' RBI single was the only hit in the top of the first inning. Six other Bloomfield hitters recorded bases-loaded walks and Noah Vandiver drove home a runner from third when he grounded out.

Holcomb reliever Pearson McClendon took control after. McClendon pitched seven innings in relief. He allowed only one run when Fox collected a one-out RBI single in the sixth.

"He pitched well," Holcomb coach Matt Casper said. "He came in in a bad situation down a few runs and threw a good game for us. He gave us an opportunity to tack on a few runs in his first outing of the year and we just didn't get enough."

Ben Vance drove home Holcomb's first run in the bottom of the second when he hit a grounder to shortstop with a runner at third base. Colton Dunbar added a one-our RBI single in the sixth for the Hornets.

Fox allowed five hits, all singles, and struck out nine while securing the victory

"It's a little bit of a positive for us to get two runs off of someone's ace because we've been struggling a little bit at the plate," Casper said. "We would have liked to have scored a few more, but we will try to grow from this."

Bloomfield finishes the tournament with a record of 2-2 and an overall mark of 10-4. Bloomfield beat Doniphan 7-6 and lost to Portageville 6-5 at the two-day tournament Friday.

"We are not satisfied with the split," Trover said. "We would have much rather went 3-1 in this tournament. That's what we talked about heading into it, but with that being said 2-2 is a lot better than coming out here and getting swept [Saturday]."

BASEBALL: BLOOMFIELD 9, HOLCOMB 2

BHS 800 010 0 -- 9 7 2

HHS 010 001 0 -- 2 5 2

WP -- Tim Fox. LP -- Colton Dunbar. Multiple hits -- Bloomfield: Fox 2-3, Alex Gibbs 3-4.

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NMCC vs. Bloomfield

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com NMCC's Garrison Keene fields a ball near the pitcher's mound.

MALDEN, Mo. - New Madrid County Central's Garrison Keene put together his own magical performance on the hill against Bloomfield in the opener Saturday. Keene pitched 6 2/3 innings of seven-hit ball while striking out seven and walking six.

Gage Silman relieved Keene with two outs in the bottom of the seventh after Bloomfield drew two walks to put runners on first and second with two outs. Silman preserved the victory for Keene and secured a one-out save when he got the first hitter he faced -Triston Mitchell - to fly out.

NMCC scored both of its runs in the top of the second inning. The trouble started for Bloomfield in the frame when Austin Lynn reached base on an error and Austin Godwin followed with a double to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Silman drove home the game-winning run when he recorded the first out on a sacrifice fly and Tyler Sprouse drove home the final run with a one-out RBI double.

The NMCC defense threw out a runner at home in the third inning, a runner at third in the fourth inning and picked off a runner near third base in the fifth inning.

Bloomfield stranded 11 baserunners and left the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

"Great game," NMCC coach Joseph McClarty said. "Great job by Garrison Keene. He's a sophomore and it was his first start of the year. He just pitched a gem. He kept the ball down and we played great defense behind him. I know we had a couple errors, but little things like that are going to happen and the kids never hung their heads. Two runs sometimes ain't enough, but today it was."

Tim Hector went the distance for the Wildcats in the loss. He allowed five hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter. He did not allow a hit after the third inning.

"Timmy threw great," Trover said. "He mixed his pitches extremely well. After he got through the second inning he threw terrific. It was a great outing, but we just couldn't get it done with the bats against NMCC."

NMCC improved to 6-6 on the season and finished the tournament with a record of 3-1 when it beat Holcomb 16-4 in five innings later Saturday afternoon.

"We are starting to get to play some games and the kids are starting to swing the bats better," McClarty said. "I feel like one through nine we can put the ball in play. It was just a great team-effort today."

BASEBALL: NMCC 2, Bloomfield 0

BHS 000 000 0 -- 0 7 1

NMC 020 000 x -- 2 5 1

WP -- Garrison Keene. LP -- Tim Hector. SV -- Gage Silman. 2B -- Austin Godwin (NM), Tyler Sprouse (NM), Kaleb Thomley (B). Multiple hits -- Bloomfield: Jacob Hector 2-3, Tim Fox 2-4, Thomley 2-3.