Pitching and chemistry leads to Scott City’s 21st win

After a 3-0 win over Meadow Heights on Friday, April 19, the Scott City baseball team is now 5-0 in Capaha Field.

The Rams have played four games in their home ballpark so far this season. At this point, “Cobbaha Park” is more like home to the Rams than their actual home field.

“We played more games here that we have in our home park,” Scott City head coach Skylar Cobb said.

The Rams (21-1) now have more wins this year than the previous season (20) and there’s still plenty of baseball to go in the regular season. After suffering their only loss of the season at Farmington, the Rams have won 17 straight games including a clean sweep through the Malden Tournament on April 12-13.

“The last couple of weeks, we've won games a lot of different ways,” Cobb said. “We've won games when we don't field it well, we don't pitch it well, and we have to hit. We pitched it pretty well, we played really good defense and we didn't hit very well. We manufactured a few runs there and have been able to get away with the win. So I think that's good for down the stretch, not just dominating teams, but winning many ways.”

Scott City outfielder Lane Holder runs toward third base against Meadow Heights on Friday, April 19, at Capaha Field.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

The last time the Rams won 21 games in a season was in 2015, a season that ended in the state championship game. Cobb, who is in his fourth year as Rams head coach, said chemistry is what separates this team from his past squads.

“We have really good chemistry,” Cobb said. “Everybody has a role.”

A passed ball in the second inning led to two runs for the Rams and their third run came on a sacrifice fly from Kobe Watson to score Lane Holder, who reached base on a triple to lead off the third inning.

Pitching dominated the day for the Rams’ 21st win of the season. Blake Wilbrun started the game, throwing the first three innings with one hit and three strikeouts. Lawson Graff, Brayden Mashek, and Jackson Gloth closed it out, combing to allow three hits in four innings while striking out two.

An over-the-shoulder catch by left fielder Mark Panagos in the seventh inning preserved the shutout for Scott City.

“They all really did a good job of pitching to contact,” Cobb said. “That only works when your defense is good.”

With two games coming up in Kentucky on Saturday, Cobb was planning to limit the innings of his pitchers so Graff and Mashek could be available in the Bluegrass State.

“Blake did really well,” Cobb said. “We got a start in the future for him that we're planning for, and he's got a little bit of injury to deal with, so we wanted to make sure that he was on a pitch limit. I almost let him go out for the fourth because his pitch count was down, but I went ahead and went back to what my plan was, which was to go three. Lawson got his bullpen for tomorrow. He always has a bullpen day before he starts, so he'll start [Saturday].

“Mashek went two and a third innings and in 28 pitches, he was just very efficient [Friday],” he said. “Overall they all did a great job. They all had command, threw strikes, and our defense a lot of times can make our pitchers look good.”

The Scott City pitchers also have the luxury of being coached by former MLB pitcher Shae Simmons, who is also a Scott City alum.

“The kids get a kick out of him and they’re all ears when he talks,” Cobb said. “He’s a fun guy to be around and he gives a different perspective that other coaches can’t give. He’s lived it. He’s seen what hard work means and what high-level pitching is, so he’s been great for us.”

The Rams will play Graves County and Calloway County on Saturday in Mayfield, Kentucky. If the Rams keep the winning streak alive they will tie the school record for wins (23) which was set in 2016.

“One goal that I had was to break the school record,” Cobb said.

With 34 games on the regular season schedule, 16 of which are played at home and Capaha Field, the Rams have 12 games to go and an opportunity to enter the postseason with 30 wins.

“I put 34 games on the schedule because we have a lot of arms and I did not want to waste that,” Cobb said. “I want to challenge our guys. So far it’s worked out.”