Rain-plagued Spartans drop game to Hannibal

Kris Childs

The Moberly Spartans baseball team finally got a game in Tuesday evening against the Hannibal Pirates. The game originally was scheduled to be held in Hannibal but was moved to Moberly due to poor field conditions.

Moberly not only has had every game canceled so far this year, they also haven’t been able to practice outside the gym. That, coupled with the fact that Hannibal has already played three games this season, says that the Pirates looked to be a bit more prepared than the Spartans.

Moberly didn’t seem to be bothered by the lack of time on the field through the first three innings. The Spartans plated the first run of the game in the second when sophomore Tyler Garnett singled home Austin Nickerson to put Moberly on top 1-0.

Moberly clinging to their one run lead in the top half of the fourth inning seemed to have everything under control when Hannibal, playing small ball tried to bunt the runners over into scoring position but Spartan catcher Derek Fletcher quickly grabbed the ball and fired down to third for the force out keeping the runners at first and second. In the next at-bat a ground ball was hit to short but a throwing error allowed two runs to score and gave Hannibal a 2-1 lead.

Moberly was unable to cross the plate again while Hannibal added two more runs in the fifth with a solo home run by senior Zach Nichols and an RBI double. Hannibal would win by a final of 4-1.

For Moberly Tegan Seitz took the loss pitching four innings giving up three total runs and one earned run. Austin Nickerson pitched three innings in relief and only surrendered one run. Corey Embree went 1-3 with a double and Austin Nickerson went 1-3 with a double and a run scored. Tyler Garnett went 1-1 with a RBI and a walk.

Moberly Coach Warren Seitz commented after the game, “Between him [Zach Nichols] being a good pitcher and not being able to get outside and field ground balls, this is the first time we’ve been able to field ground balls on dirt so it’s a typical first game unfortunately. I thought our pitching did a pretty good job. I thought we did well enough to win pitching wise, defensively we had a couple errors I think we’ll get better there but I think it comes back to hitting. We’re not going to win many games if we only score one run.”

Moberly starts the season 0-1 and will play next on Friday, April 2 when they host a conference game verses Mexico.

Photo Above: Tegan Seitz delivers a pitch during Moberly’s 4-1 loss Tuesday against Hannibal.