Hit-by-pitch leads to 1-0 win for Scott City

One trip around the bases was the difference between winning and losing in a 1-0 tight tilt on Tuesday between Scott City and Advance.

Chase Venable got the bottom of the sixth inning started for the Rams with a ground ball to the hot corner and beating out the throw to first by Hornets third baseman Kip Holdman. Mark Panagos advanced Venable to second base with a base hit of his own. Kobe Watson walked to load the bases, but what brought Venable home was a hit of a different variety.

Scott City senior Colin Blaylock was set up to be the hero and bring his teammates home with a booming hit. Instead, he took a pitch to the side of his ribs and drove in the winning run the painful way.

In a game that had a combined total of six hits, a bases-loaded plunking is what kept Scott City's perfect record intact.

"Colin was able to take a hit by a pitch and push a run across," Rams head coach Skylar Cobb said. "It wasn't easy. We had to fight tooth and nail, we had baserunning mistakes all day long. It wasn't a pretty game for us, but our pitching is what kept us in."

It was a classic pitcher's duel. Blake Wilburn went six shutout innings with six strikeouts and only two hits allowed to get the win for the Rams. Jed Garner pitched a similar game for the Hornets, going all six innings and allowing only one run on four hits and four walks with nine strikeouts.

"Jed threw an unbelievable game, and Blake was right here, matched him pitch for pitch," Cobb said. "We had trouble with Jed all day. His fastball was live, then he had that good breaking ball."

Eli Ford got the only two hits the Hornets could muster. He has spent four years playing every sport Zalma High School has to offer but has joined the Hornets for baseball since the two baseball programs consolidated with each other this school year. Advance has done the same with Bell City for girls' basketball and softball.

"It's a little different," Ford said, "but I love baseball, so it's not that bad."

While Ford is playing baseball in Advance, he still runs track for Zalma. He said he balances it by going to track practice after baseball.

The Rams are now 5-0 to start the season. They went 14-13 last season and won their district for the first time since 2018. They returned most of their team for this year and the experience is paying off early.

"We're finding ways to win all kinds of games," Cobb said. "Whether it's we're hitting well, or whether we're not hitting well, then we're pitching well. We're making plays."

Cobb called the Rams' 5-4 win over Bernie on Monday a "microcosm" of the season.

"We made a couple of big errors that made the game closer than what we would have liked," Cobb said, "but we found a way to score a run late and win the game. Same thing kind of happened here."

Scott City hosts East Prairie on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., as part of its four-game homestand.