Hicks dazzles, Bell City baseball team braves wind in victory over Scott City

It was the first pitching start of the season Tuesday for Bell City junior Austin Hicks, and the conditions were far from ideal.

Gusts of wind up to 35 miles per hour never seemed to slow down, but that didn’t prevent the Cubs’ ace from making the most of his season debut at Scott City High School.

Hicks tossed a complete game and finished with a game-high four RBIs at the plate, leading Bell City to a 10-3 win over Scott City.

“The wind was not in my favor today,” Hicks said, “but not bad for my first start. I felt pretty good. ... Everything just started to get back in rhythm. It just felt like playing with the same group of guys again.”

In a matchup between two of last season’s state finalists in their respective classes — the Cubs won the Class 1 title while the Rams were runners-up in Class 3 — Bell City (2-0) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back.

Bell City Players watch the seventh inning from the dugout against Scott City Tuesday, March 22, 2016 in Scott City, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

Cole Nichols led off with a double to left field, reached third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nate Finney. Peyton Maddox followed with an infield single before Bobby Wright reached on a walk to put runners at first and second with two down. That brought up Tyler Evans, whose line-drive double to right-center field scored both runners and gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead heading to the bottom half of the frame.

“It was good to come out and get runs early,” Bell City coach Justin Simpher said. “Scott City’s a good-hitting team, and they’re a good ball club, so to come out and get some runs early and let our pitcher get into pitching with a lead and settle in, it was huge.”

It didn’t take long for Scott City (3-1) to answer, as leadoff hitter Braden Cox blasted the first pitch he saw to the right-field fence for a double. Hicks struck out the next two batters before Drew Short’s RBI single to left allowed Cox to score, cutting the Rams’ deficit to 3-1. Jordan Kluesner followed with a two-out double, but both runners were left stranded in scoring position to end the inning.

“You’ve got to be able to score runs in those situations,” Scott City coach Jim May said. “In the first inning, we tried to answer back what they did. After we scored a run, we just kind of fall out, so we need to get better at hitting with runners in scoring position.”

Hicks retired seven straight batters before the Rams found some offense in the bottom of the fourth.

Bell City's Peyton Maddox and Scott City's Hunter Copeland look to an umpire for the call on a slide into second base Tuesday, March 22, 2016 in Scott City, Missouri. Maddox was safe.Glenn Landberg

Short led off with a single, followed by Kluesner’s second double of the day, a blast to left field that moved both runners into scoring position with nobody out. Short reached home on a ground out, but a pair of infield pop-ups ended the inning, leaving two baserunners stranded. The Rams trailed 5-2 heading to the fifth.

“We kept popping it up in the infield, and they kept hitting the ball hard. That’s basically the difference in the ball game right there,” May said. “We’ve got to hit up and down our lineup, and we haven’t been doing that very well yet. We didn’t hit very well last weekend, and we went 3-0. I tried to impress that upon them, but we’re going to continue to try to get better.”

Hicks helped himself on offense by finishing 3 for 5 at the plate, including a two-run single to center field that gave the Cubs an 8-2 lead in the top of the fifth. He also had an RBI single in the second and fourth inning each.

Cox doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and scored when Hunter Copeland blooped a single down the left-field line, but the Rams were unable to produce any more hits for the remainder of the game.

Hicks wrapped up his first pitching win of the season with seven strikeouts and one walk, allowing only seven hits and three runs (all earned). He struck out four of the final 10 batters he faced.

Scott City's Drew Short tags out Bell City's Taylor Jackson on his way to second base during the third inning Tuesday, March 22, 2016 in Scott City, Missouri.Glenn Landberg

“He went out there and threw a great game. It’s just about what I expect out of him,” Simpher said. “He kept us in the game, threw strikes, worked hitters — just went out there and did what he was supposed to do.”

Cox and Kluesner each finished 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles to lead Scott City’s offense.

Bryan McNeely started for Scott City and took the loss in three innings of work, allowing 10 hits and five runs (all earned) with one strikeout and three walks. Kluesner relieved McNeely in the top of the fourth. He struck out two, walked three and gave up five hits and five runs (all earned) in four innings of work.

“We didn’t throw exceptionally well,” May said. “We were elevated. When we missed, we didn’t miss in the strike zone at all. We were kind of flat. I don’t know why or how, but that’s just baseball. Some days are like this. We’re going to keep trying to get better, and we’re going to come back and play better next time hopefully.”

The Cubs combined for 15 hits, led by a 4-for-4 outing from Evans. Nichols scored four times as the leadoff hitter and finished 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles, while Finney and Jesse Smith also went 2 for 4.

“I thought all our approaches at the plate were good,” Simpher said. “They weren’t really swinging at a lot of the pitches out of the zone. They were ready to hit and were hitting pitches that were good pitches.

“... Usually hitting comes with time with the weather warming up and everything. It’s good to see us come out ready to swing the bat. You can’t put the ball into play if you don’t swing the bat. It’s good to see, and hopefully we can build on that.”

Bell City 310 131 1 — 10 15 0

Scott City 100 110 0 — 3 7 1

WP — Austin Hicks. LP — Bryan McNeely. 2B — Cole Nichols 2 (BC), Tyler Evans (BC), Braden Cox 2 (SC), Jordan Kluesner 2 (SC). Multiple hits — Bell City: Evans 4-4, Hicks 3-5, Nichols 2-4, Nate Finney 2-4, Jesse Smith 2-4; Scott City: Cox 2-3, Kluesner 2-3, Drew Short 2-3.