Tigers open season with 4-2 victory

NEVADA -- Mother Nature attempted to put a stop to Monday evening's interstate baseball battle, wetting down the field at Fort Scott's Lions Field. Nevada and Fort Scott High School coaches and athletic directors went right to work to avoid that cancellation, however, and ultimately moved the contest to Lyons Stadium in Nevada, allowing the Tigers to begin their season after all.

Fort Scott starting pitcher Matt Carrillo came out strong, holding Nevada to just two runs on the way to a 4-2 Tiger victory.

"He mixed it up really well," Nevada head coach Kellan Foster said of the Fort Scott starter. "He mixed in some junk and the kids just couldn't hit him today."

It looked as though the day might turn out to be much rougher for Carrillo as both of those runs were of the unearned variety in the first inning. Nevada (1-1) was able to touch Carrillo for one hit in each of the final six innings, but was never able to find the scoreboard again.

Nevada starter Cory Kerbs had a similarly strong outing, keeping Fort Scott off the scoreboard, despite a frightening moment early in the game. In the first inning, it looked as though Kerbs may make an early exit as he took a hard comebacker off his foot from the bat of Fort Scott's Luke Brown -- the impact of which could be heard from the press box.

Kerbs recovered quickly, however, putting Fort Scott down in short order and going on to allow just one run on four hits in his first five innings of work. That run came in the third when Alex Pemberton scored on an error by Nevada first baseman Ron Johnson to cut Nevada's lead in half at 2-1.

Kerbs' dominance on the mound came to a very abrupt end in the sixth inning as he began to show signs of fatigue. Fort Scott took its first lead of the young season with a three-run rally.

Kerbs' day came to an end with three runs -- one earned -- on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Carrillo, on the other hand, pitched a complete game, allowing two runs -- none earned -- on seven hits with 11 strikeouts, no walks and three hit batters.

Neither team had much trouble getting baserunners in one way or another throughout the contest as Nevada stranded a total of eight runners to Fort Scott's six.

Fort Scott's Tigers will host Girard in a home doubleheader that begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The games will be played at Ty Cullor Field as Fort Scott Community College will be using Lions Field to play a home conference doubleheader against Cowley.

The game between Fort Scott and Nevada that was to be held in Nevada on April 30 will be played in Fort Scott instead.