Kennett baseball falls victim to Poplar Bluff rally 6-4

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Kennett's Payton Heinley delivers a pitch to a Poplar Bluff batter in a varsity baseball game Tuesday afternoon.

KENNETT, Mo. - The Kennett Indians baseball team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning but was unable to make the defensive plays it needed in the following innings to secure a victory against the visiting Poplar Bluff Mules Tuesday evening.

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Poplar Bluff’s Noah Burkey delivers a pitch at Indian Park in Kennett Tuesday.

Kennett committed four errors after the second inning. Poplar Bluff capitalized on the mistakes by plating two runs in the top of the third and sixth innings to move ahead 4-2 and hung on to beat Kennett 6-4 at Indian Park.

“We just didn’t play very well defensively today,” Kennett coach Aaron New said. “They scored four runs on balls they didn’t hit out of the infield. We have to clean that up, especially when we are playing a Class 5 school the caliber of Poplar Bluff.”

The rally started for Poplar Bluff when No. 9 hitter Wyatt Rowland and leadoff hitter Justin Moses reached base on consecutive one-out errors in the top of the third inning. Rowland later scored from third base on a wild pitch and Moses scored the game-tying run when Dawson Hanner grounded out to second base.

The Mules moved ahead for good at 4-2 in the top of the sixth inning. Hanner collected a one-out single and No. 3 hitter Noah Burkey drew a one-out walk in the frame. Both runners later scored on a two-out double by No. 5 hitter Sam Pierce.

“This is a huge win for this team,” Poplar Bluff coach Steven Edwards said. “We are a young team but we have a lot of grit and fight in us. Coach New does a great job with Kennett and everybody knew coming into this season they were going to be one of the top teams in the conference. A lot of people were wondering who would win this game and we are very happy with today’s outcome.”

Kennett loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning after No. 6 hitter Marshall Brown, No. 7 hitter Kobe Gates, and No. 8 hitter Jackson Henfling drew consecutive one-out walks. No. 9 hitter Carter Maddox followed by drawing another one-out walk to put Kennett on top 1-0. Leadoff hitter Seth Tice was then hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to give Kennett a 2-0 lead.

Burkey, who was the starting pitcher for Poplar Bluff, escaped additional damage when he got No. 2 hitter Bodey Ellis to pop out to shortstop for the second out and No. 3 hitter Payton Heinley to ground into a fielder’s choice for the third out of the bottom of the second inning.

Burkey, who earned the victory, put up three zeroes over the next three innings after escaping the bases-loaded jam in the second inning. He allowed two hits, two earned runs, struck out eight, and walked six in a 99-pitch five-inning performance.

“He’s an outstanding pitcher,” Edwards said. “He struggled with his pitch count the first couple innings. Then he tweaked a couple of things and got back in the zone and had a quick third and fourth inning.”

Hanner earned a six-out save for Poplar Bluff. He allowed three hits, two earned runs, struck out two and walked one in a 45-pitch outing.

Henfling hit a solo home run for Kennett in the bottom of the sixth inning off of Hanner to trim the deficit to 4-3.

“Jackson Henfling got us back within one run,” New said. “It was a big swing by him and hopefully we get a few more at-bats like that as the season progresses.”

Poplar Bluff added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning to pad its lead to 6-3. Burkey had an RBI single in the frame and another run scored on an infield error.

Kennett tallied its final run in the bottom of the seventh inning when cleanup hitter Reese Robinett collected a one-out double, advanced to third base on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brown.

Heinley pitched the first 5 1/3 innings for Kennett, He allowed four runs (one earned), three hits, struck out eight, and walked one.

“I thought Payton pitched really well,” New said. “Their guy did a pretty good job as well. We couldn’t come up with a clutch hit when we needed it and that’s probably because he’s a really good pitcher.”

Ellis allowed two runs (one earned), one hit, struck out two, and walked two in one inning of relief work for Kennett. Robinett recorded the final two outs for the Indians without surrendering a run.

Kennett (2-1) visits Dexter Wednesday at 4 p.m. before hosting North County Friday at 6 p.m.

“We need to shake this off and come back and play a little bit better later this week,” New said.

Poplar Bluff (3-1) visits traditional Class 2 talent Chaffee Thursday at 6 p.m.

“Chaffee is a really good team with a couple of really good arms,” Edwards said. “They called us and wanted to play and we decided to go up there and play them because they are a good team."

Poplar Bluff 6, Kennett 4

PBS 002 002 2 - 6 5 0

KHS 020 001 1 - 4 5 4

WP - Noah Burkey. LP - Payton Heinley. HR - Jackson Henfling (K). 2B - Marshall Brown (K), Heinley (K), Sam Pierce (PB).