Thunder earn second-straight run-rule win
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Nodaway Valley senior Preston Jenkins high-fives coach Mike Hollingsworth after a first-inning triple on Thursday in Hopkins.
HOPKINS, Mo. — Normally when a coach is losing hair this early in the season, its a bad thing. Nodaway Valley and Mike Hollingsworth are trying to flip that narrative.
After losing games to Platte Valley and Rock Port, Hollingsworth’s message to the team was simple — switch up the vibes. He applied that to himself as well.
“We won our first two and we were doing good, and then we lost our next three so we had to mix it up,” Hollingsworth said. “I told the boys to go home, wash their clothes, shave, cut their hair, whatever it took. So I went and cut my hair, got some short pants and shaved into the rally ‘stache.”
Junior catcher Cooper Snodderley isn’t sure if Hollingsworth’s ‘rally mustache’ is the reason, but he’s pretty happy with the last two games — a 10-0 win over Stewartsville-Osborn and a 17-0 win over North Nodaway.
“He thinks it is,” Snodderley said of the mustache changing momentum. “But I don’t know.”
The score last Thursday in Hopkins is deceiving of how well North Nodaway pitcher Blaine Clements performed early on.
“Blaine always pitches pretty well and keeps us in these games pretty close,” North Nodaway coach Cody Bix said.
Nodaway Valley senior Preston Jenkins burnt the Mustang defense in the first inning with a 2-run triple for a 2-0 lead, but Clements settled in and limited the damage with two strikeouts to end the inning.
With the Walk-Off Wood Bat Tournament over the weekend, Nodaway Valley elected to avoid pitching its most experienced arms with seniors Lane Larabee and Jenkins as well as sophomore Tye Hoyt. That meant the start went to Jon Smock.
“He was attacking the batters,” Hollingsworth said. “He came out with confidence. That was the difference.”
Smock struggled in his only other appearance this season in Auburn with four walks and four hits allowed in 3 1/3 innings. He was excited for the chance to bounce back and did so with a 1-2-3 first inning, striking out the side.
“Today was just about throwing strikes,” Smock said. “That is where I struggled in the Auburn game. Your job as a pitcher is to put it where the hitter can hit it and trust your defense. That was the focus today.”
Larabee had a 2-out RBI in the second, scoring his cousin Hoyt, but Clements limited the damage again — keeping the margin to 3-0.
Smock picked up three more strikeouts in the second inning, working around two walks and a hit-by-pitch. He finished with two no-hit innings, three walks and six strikeouts.
“He pitched good,” Snodderley said. “He hit the spots that I gave him and all his pitches were working.”
A Tyler Gray 2-run single made it 5-0 in the third and he scored on a groundout to make it it 6-0 after three innings. Clements pitched two innings — allowing four hits, three earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts.
The Thunder blew the game open with an 11-run fourth inning. Snodderley had the biggest swing of the inning with a double to score Larabee from first.
“It actually felt pretty good to put that much on them in on inning,” Smock said. “It felt like we were clicking on all cylinders.”
With the game set to end, the Mustangs fought back in the bottom of the fourth with senior Lakota Rucker picking up the team’s first hit. Thunder reliever Deontrae Mincy maintained the shutout with a strikeout to end the game.
“When the score is up there, it is easy to kinda give in and they didn’t want to do that,” Bix said.
Larabee, Jenkins, Gray, Collin Kinsella and Mincy each finished with two hits. The Thunder turned in their first game this season without an error.
“It has helped that we haven’t had errors in the field,” Hollingsworth said. “It gives the confidence to throw the pitch they want to throw. … They can go attack batters instead of trying to finesse and play around the corners. They can just go right at them.”
Nodaway Valley opens the Walk-Off Wood Bat Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m., in Faucett against KC East Christian. They will play two games on Saturday.
“In baseball, you do well if you think you are doing something — kinda like a superstition,” Smock laughed when asked if he credits the mustache for the win. “I have a lot of them myself, so he can have his own superstitions, but personally no.”
North Nodaway hosts Albany on Friday and gets back into 275 Conference action on Monday at Northeast Nodaway.
