Levi McKinnie strikes out 17 as Chaffee edges Scott City in pitcher's duel

A rivalry between two neighboring high schools deserve games packed with suspense.

The 2023 edition of the baseball rivalry between Scott City and Chaffee involved a duel between aces, with the Red Devils slightly prevailing 1-0 on Wednesday in Scott City.

“To face a conference rival, break through and get a win,” Chaffee coach Aaron Horrell said, “I just hope this boosts the kids’ confidence and lets them know that we can compete with anybody and we can beat anybody.”

Chaffee scored the lone run in the game in the second inning on a single by Eli Glueck to score Carson Spies, who led off with a walk.

“They got us last year in the district championship,” Chaffee pitcher Levi McKinnie said. “Coming out and beating them is a big win.”

McKinnie threw 6.2 shutout innings with two hits allowed, two walks, and 17 strikeouts.

“He’s one of the premier pitchers in the area,” Horrell said. “I know some other schools got some really good guys and their guy was really good today. But I’ll take my guy against anybody.”

Scott City’s Blake Wilburn held his own on the mound, throwing for six innings with one run on two hits and seven strikeouts.

“Blake was great,” said Scott City coach Skylar Cobb. “He could not have done anything more than what he did. He did everything we asked him. He kept us right there 1-0. You hope that you can put a couple of runs on the board and then Blake’s the hero today. But Levi was great, he was elite today, and it’s one of those days where we didn’t make the adjustment at the plate.”

Holden Miller got both hits in the game for the Rams. Both hits were followed by strikeouts to end the inning.

McKinnie struck three Scott City batters three times during the game. He also threw three strikeouts in four innings. The junior ace said each strikeout leads to the confidence to throw more.

“It gets me in rhythm,” McKinnie said, “and I just get that confidence go right at them.”

McKinnie said his best pitch was the slider, a pitch he developed a year ago and has relied on it ever since.

“Overall all components commanding the zone mixing the breaking ball in and velocity that was the best he’s been in but it’s he’s been really good every time out so it’s he’s always got a pretty high bar to pass.”

McKinnie was taken out of the game after recording his 17th strikeout in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kade Atkins came in to get the final out.

“It was a rulebook decision,” Horrell said. “He was at his 105-pitch limit, so not a fan of that rule with a kid that’s an upperclassman dominating the day and really deserves to have the chance to complete a complete game shoutout there, but the rulebook got us.”

To respond, Cobb sent out Gavin Venable to the plate in an attempt to create a Kirk Gibson vs. Dennis Eckersley moment. Venable, who had his fair share of home runs in recent home games, spent the entire game on the PA table announcing the batters’ names.

“We just liked that matchup,” Cobb said. “Gavin’s been a solid force this year, so we liked that matchup against anybody. He was gonna hit regardless of who was pitching but we’re just looking for a spark right there, somebody gets on base, maybe steal a base, and hopefully get back in this game.”

Unlike last year, the two rivals are no longer in the same district. Chaffee leads Class 2 District 3 with a 17-6 record while Scott City (14-8) is in a competitive Class 3 District 2, where Kelly (17-6) is the only team with more wins.

Chaffee hosts Cooter on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Scott City hosts Leopold on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.