Mossburg Fans 11, Stymies Innisdale In Pounder Classic

Innisdale Secondary School, out of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, looked like a baseball team that had been cooped up in its basketball gymnasium for weeks while harsh winter weather slammed the province.

The Invaders, getting outside for the first time, were held hitless and scoreless over five innings by Silverdale pitcher Tyler Mossburg and the Seahawks went on to beat Innisdale, 5-1, Thursday night at Hixson High School in the Pounder Classic.

“That’s the best Mossburg has pitched for us,” Seahawks coach Jonathan Adcock said.

“Tyler is probably our fourth or fifth pitcher in the rotation, but we’re hoping his performance tonight was a precursor for bigger things for him.”

In other games at Hixson, Gwinette Christian, a home-school team, thumped Sale Creek, 12-0, and Hixson scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to whip Gwinette 11-2.

The Hixson-Gwinette game ended in a steady rain, but it was just a light mist when the Seahawks and Invaders started the nightcap. The temperature had dropped to near 50, with a strong wind blowing from right field to left field by the time the final game ended.

At Central, Southside from Fort Smith, Ark., blanked the host Purple Pounders, 2-0, behind the 17-strikeout effort by pitcher Ty Harpenau, who has signed a baseball scholarship with nationally ranked Texas Tech, Boyd-Buchanan beat Cleveland, 8-3, and Grissom, Ala., routed Harmony, out of Orlando, Fla., 10-0.

Central and Harmony got an early tournament start by playing on Wednesday with the Pounders posting a 6-2 win in a game originally scheduled for Friday. The Friday schedule at Central now has just two games at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (See schedule below)

Innisdale’s Chase Cornelisse, Mossburg’s mound opponent, led off the game with a single to center, but that was the only hit for the Canadian squad until Cody Printess singled to right in the sixth and drove in the Invaders’ lone run.

The Seahawks (3-5) scored three first-inning runs, two on a Michael Hawkins’ triple, a high-fly ball to center that was misplayed by Aaron Senistand.

Cornelisse’s throwing error trying to pick off Delashmitt at first, enabled the Seahawks base runner to take second. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on the first of seven Cornelisse wild pitches.

“If we make a few plays, Chase could have gotten out of that first inning,” Innisdale assistant coach Ryan Fedrigo said. “We botched the play in center field, made a couple of bad throws. Chase is a junior and the ace of our rotation. He’ll learn from this. For our first time on the field, I thought we did pretty well as a whole.”

After the game, Invaders head coach Jon Stirtan was in a pretty good mood, considering his team was playing its first game of the season.

“If we clean up that first inning, this was a 2-1 game,” Stirtan said. “Are you kidding me? We’re here to improve every time on the field. That’s our goal. Remember that when we leave on Sunday.”

Mossburg, a sophomore, worked five strong innings and recorded 11 strikeouts – he whiffed four different Innisdale players twice – and walked two.

And, he made the first-inning runs hold up.

After walking Cornelisse to start the game, Mossburg struck out Jeff Roberts and Cody Printess. Then the Seahawks right-handed picked Cornelisse off first base for the third out.

Mossburg walked Ryan Barr to start the second, but fanned Carter Matheson, Jake Stoner and Senistand.

He again walked the leadoff hitter in the third, Jalen Cooper, who stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Mossburg then retired the next three, two by strikeout, Barr and Matheson by strikeout, and got Roberts on a fly-out to center.

The Invaders (0-1) went down in order in the fourth, including strikeouts by Barr and Matheson. In the fifth, Mossburg again had two strikeouts and retired the last nine he faced before giving way to reliever Nathan Keylon for the sixth inning.

Keylon walked Cornelisse with one out. He struck out Roberts, but Printess grounded a single through the right side that scored Cornelisse. Printess went to second when Silverdale catcher Chance Brown muffed the throw to the plate.

Keylon fanned Barr to end the game, stopped after reaching the 2-hour, 15-minute time limit.

“Base running hasn’t been our strong suit so far,” Adcock said. “But this was good experience today. Their pitcher struggled some at times and we took some extra bases. We also put the ball in play and got some runs that way.”

Cornelisse gave up all four Silverdale runs, both hits, struck out six and walked nine. It was clear the Invaders’ right-hander lost steam over his final two innings.

“A few defensive plays would have helped Chase in that first inning when he had to get four or five outs,” Fredrigo said.

Hixson 11, Gwinette Christian 2: The Barons trailed 1-0 through five innings, but pulled ahead on Andy Weaver’s two-run homer off Wildcats reliever Parker Tyo, who had come on for starter Tanner Moylan.

Moylan nursed a 1-0 lead through four innings, but Tyo benefitted from the 10-run inning and got the win.

Moylan also went 2-for-3, including a double. Brandon Carver and Logan Rigsby also went 2-for-3 in the Wildcats’ nine-hit attack.  

Hixson is now 6-3 on the season.

Boyd-Buchanan 8, Cleveland 3: Cleveland jumped into a 2-0 lead, but the Bucs (4-5) got a Skyler Anderson two-run double and a two-run single by Seth Caudle in the fourth inning and took a 4-2 advantage they would not relinquish.

Boyd-Buchanan, which has won four in a row after opening with five straight losses against tough competition, added four more runs in the sixth.

Cade Evans and Colby Morgan had RBI singles, Brandon Willingham smacked a two-run double and Austin Jackson, who went 3-for-4, added a run-scoring single.

Evans, Morgan and Willingham had two hits apiece.

Hunter Oliver went 2-for-3, including a double and two RBIs.

LINESCORES

Cleveland                                           100 100 1 – 3 6 2

Boyd-Buchanan                                 000 404 x – 8 13 1

WP – Josh Antwine (2-2.

SV – Brandon Willingham (1)

LP – Harbor Jefferson (2-1)

Gwinette Christian                         000 020 – 2 5 2

Hixson                                              010 00(10) – 11 9 0

West, Cassiday (6), Kasper (6) and Dreslinski; Moylan, Tyo (5) and Rollins.

Innisdale, Ontario                           000 001 – 1 2 2

Silverdale Baptist                            300 11x – 5 2 1

Cornelisse, Creamer (5) and Printess; Mossburg, Keylon (5) and Brown.

2015 Pounder Classic Schedule

Pool A at Central

Central, Fort Smith, Ark., Innisdale, Ontario, Canada, Cleveland, Harmony, Fla., Grissom, Ala.

Pool B at Hixson

Boyd-Buchanan, Sale Creek, Gwinette Barons, Ga., Hixson, Silverdale

Wednesday

Central 6, Harmony (Fla.) 2

Thursday

At Central

Fort Smith 2, Central 0

Boyd-Buchanan 8, Cleveland 3

Grissom 10, Harmony 0

At Hixson

Hixson 11, Gwinette Christian 2

Gwinette 12, Sale Creek 0

Silverdale 5, Innisdale 1

Friday

At Central

Fort Smith vs. Innisdale, 3 p.m.

Fort Smith vs. Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.

At Hixson

Cleveland vs. Hixson, 3 p.m.

Sale Creek vs. Boyd-Buchanan, 5:15 p.m.

Innisdale vs. Grissom, 7:30 p.m.

At Silverdale

Grissom vs. Silverdale, 4 p.m.

Saturday

At Central

Central vs. Innisdale, 10 a.m.

Cleveland vs. Harmony, 12:15 p.m.

Central vs. Grissom, 2:30 p.m.

Championship game, 7 p.m.

At Hixson

Sale Creek vs. Hixson, 10 a.m.

Boyd-Buchanan vs. Hixson, 12:15 p.m.

Boyd-Buchanan vs. Gwinette, 2:30 p.m.

Saturday at Silverdale

Gwinette vs. Silverdale, 10 a.m.

Sale Creek vs. Silverdale, 2:30 p.m.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)