No matter who Sedalia Bomber’s head coach Craig McAndrews plugged in after starter Brad Spinner exited, there was no right answer.
Spinner allowed one run on six hits and a walk and left the game after the sixth with a 6-1 lead.
The Ozark Generals charged back with seven runs in the next inning en route to a 12-6 victory Monday at Liberty Park in Sedalia.
The Generals strung together seven straight singles and three runs against Brooks Luther in the seventh. Tyler Hutchinson relieved Luther with one out and the bases loaded. He walked in a run before surrendering the lead on a Jake Lewis 2-RBI single.
Luther was on the hook for six runs, but his outing seemed to set the tone for the rest of the Bombers’ bullpen. Hutchinson, Aaron Armstrong and Dalton Christian allowed five more runs in two innings.
The Generals had 14 hits on the game – 13 for singles. They drew six walks against the Sedalia bullpen.
“(Luther’s) breaking ball wasn’t good tonight,” McAndrews said. “He had to go to the fastball. I think the hitters knew. He was down in the zone, they were just pounding it into the ground.
“I couldn’t get Hutchinson hot fast enough. They went seven swings in about five minutes. It was quick.”
The turnaround was swift after a quick start for Sedalia.
Ryan Curtis put Ozark on the board in the fourth. He scored Brad Cuyos on a 2-out single. At the time, they trailed 5-1.
The Sedalia lineup opened the game with two singles and a run. Justin Holt singled, stole second and scored on a Quade Smith single.
With two on in the first, Brandon Metoyer walked. A pitch during his at-bat leapt away from Ozark catcher Jake Lewis, and two runs scored.
Smith’s RBI single made it 4-0 in the second and Devon Morrill’s safety swing with two outs made it 5-0 in the third when the ball fell from first baseman Garrett Schilling’s glove, scoring Alex Bee from third.
Dalton Horstmeier padded the lead with a solo home run in the fourth.
McAndrews said the Bombers’ lineup – whose strength is speed on the base paths – lost focus in their approach with the lead.
“You can never play to the score,” McAndrews said. “I don’t care if it’s 100 to 1, up or down. You can probably get back into the game somehow, because baseball is a crazy game. We have to do a better job staying aggressive on the base paths and putting pressure on them. That’s how we’re going to win games.”
The Bombers travel to Joplin to face the Joplin Outlaws.
