Carthage, 11, vs. Lamar, 0
LAMAR, Mo. — To say the Carthage Tigers have turned over a new leaf under the helm of their new head coach, Kevin Burgi, would be an understatement. The Tigers, in the first three games of their young 2024 spring season, have already matched their win total from last year, a feat that took them 11 games and then saw them finish with 19 losses in a row.
After Friday’s opening win against Diamond 7-3 in the Lamar Tiger Classic, Carthage picked right up where they left off, using a combination of the long ball, aggressiveness on the base paths, solid defense, and lights-out pitching to shutout tournament host, Lamar, and Sarcoxie in their doubleheader Saturday.
In the early game, Burgi gave the ball to Sophomore Landon Bland (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who wasted no time in setting the tone of what could be expected against Lamar.
Bland had a perfect game going in his four innings of work, striking out three on 50 pitches, 31 of them strikes.
“Bland did a great job filling up the zone and keeping the opposing team off the bases,” Burgi said. “He is a kid that has worked very hard to get better on the mound, and he was great on Saturday. I thought he did a great job filling up the zone and getting strike one.”
Carthage opened the scoring in the second when Taylor Stevens-Diggs took a first-pitch fastball and deposited it over the left field fence, in similar fashion to his Friday night homer. Zach Hoenshell, who singled on a line drive before Stevens-Diggs, scored to give Carthage a 2-0 lead. The Tigers added an additional four runs in the second inning with Langston Morgan, Bradyn Tate, Cooper Lilienkamp and Ty Perry all crossing the plate for a Carthage 6-0 lead.
Carthage pushed an additional run across in the third when Mason Adams drew a bases-loaded walk on four pitches, scoring Morgan and giving Carthage a 7-0 lead.
In the fourth, Ethan Stark joined the home run train when he took a 3-1 pitch deep to left for his first long ball of the season and an 8-0 Carthage lead. Brady Carlton scored later in the inning on a Morgan single, giving the Tigers a 9-0 lead.
In the Carthage fifth, this time with an 0-1 count, Stark hit his second homer of the game, again to left field to give the Tigers an 11-0 lead, where the score would remain in a shortened game due to the run rule.
“Stark and Stephens-Diggs did a great job getting pitches they could handle and driving the baseball,” Burgi said. “Those swings were big.”
Sophomore Blayne Lilienkamp took over for Bland in the fifth and surrendered a hit to break up the perfect game, but was able to limit any further damage by striking out a batter and inducing a bases-loaded 6-4-3 double play turned by middle infielders, Carlton and Adams.
“I loved our dugout! We had kids engaged in the game and having fun,” Burgi added.
Carthage, 7, vs. Sarcoxie, 0
In the nightcap, Burgi called on another Sophomore pitcher, Carson Kinder (1-0, 0.00 ERA), to face the Sarcoxie Bears. Kinder breezed through the first two hitters he faced, but ran into a little trouble after an error and two singles loaded the bases. Kinder then settled in and struck out the next batter swinging, and went on to strike out five of the next nine batters he faced to end with seven strikeouts over four innings.
“Carson had great stuff on the mound,” Burgi said. “He commanded three pitches, and he did a great job getting out of a jam in the first inning of the game.”
Carthage once again jumped out to an early lead, plating three runs in the first inning on hits from Steven-Diggs and Carlton, scoring Adams, Stark and Stevens-Diggs respectively.
The Tigers added two runs in the second, one by Lilienkamp on a ground ball from Perry, and one by Adams who stole home when Perry was thrown out at second on a double steal. They pushed across an additional run in the fourth by Lilienkamp on an error by Sarcoxie’s first baseman. They also picked up another run in the fifth by Cooper Jackson when Morgan laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt, nearly beating the throw.
Senior Clay Conness followed Kinder on the mound and picked right up where he left it, striking out the sides in the fifth on 11 pitches, with two caught looking and one swinging.
Conness came back out for the sixth inning and struck out the first batter before an error, stolen base and fly ball out moved a runner to third. Conness, however, kept the shutout intact when the following batter flew out to Morgan in center field.
In the seventh, Senior Colson Brust took the mound and gave up a single before a groundout, pop out and another groundout secured the win – and the shutout – moving the Tigers to 3-0 on the season.
“TSD, Brady and Cooper were tone-setters at the plate and did a great job leading the offense,” Burgi said.
Carthage will face Butler for their final game of the Lamar Tiger Classic at 3:30 p.m. Monday in Lamar.
