By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
The summer is starting to turn around for Tyler McNeely and the Joplin Outlaws.
In fact, Thursday night couldn’t have been much better for the duo as they dropped the Mac-N-Seitz Athletics 6-5 in a come-from-behind victory in MINK League action at the Joplin Athletic Complex.
McNeely powered the comeback, thanks to a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth inning — the first homer the Outlaws have hit at home this season — which gave the Outlaws (12-18, 11-16 MINK League) a 5-4 lead.
In the sixth inning McNeely killed an A’s rally by gunning down Arizona State’s Jeff Lusardi at home plate to end a two-on, one-out threat. With runners and second and third and one out, Alex Kelly lifted a fly ball to McNeely in right field. He made the routine grab and fired a strike to catcher Brad Shankle, who applied the tag to complete the double play and keep the momentum in Joplin’s corner.
“That was a good throw from him and a big play for us,” Outlaws coach Chris Reddout said. “It kept the momentum going on our side, and we rode it from there.”
Outlaws starter Zach Juliano pitched seven gutsy innings before giving way to Wayne Coldwell and Mitch Albright. The right-hander Juliano’s only major hiccup came in the first inning when the A’s sent eight hitters to the plate and scored four times.
Juliano rebounded, however, and tossed five straight scoreless innings before allowing a run in the seventh. The A’s had the bases loaded with one out in the inning, but scored just once on a Nick DeBiasse sacrifice fly before Juliano induced Lusardi to hit a soft fly to right to end the threat.
Coldwell and Albright retired the next six A’s to end it.
McNeely led off the fifth with the solo shot on a hanging slider from A’s starter Chris Sundvold. Cody Stephens singled with two outs and Shayne Hoke drove him in with a triple into the right field corner to make it 6-4.
McNeely credited his newfound approach at the plate to the coaching staff at Illinois State.
“I’ve changed (my approach) quite a bit this year,” McNeely said. “I used to sit on fastballs, but our coach at ISU has tried to get us focused in a hitting zone rather than a strike zone. So I was looking for something in my hitting zone and luckily he hung a slider and I put a good swing on it.”
Trailing 4-0 in the first, the Outlaws added a run in the bottom of the inning to cut into the deficit. Shankle singled to lead off the Outlaws first and caem around to score on a pair of A’s errors.
They added three more in the second. Hoke doubled and Joe Walton was plunked by a pitch to put runners at first and second. Albright then hit a grounder back to Sundvold, but he threw wildly to first, allowing Hoke to score. Shankle hit a sacrifice fly to bring Walton in before Wes Starkes singled with one out to score Albright with the tying run.
“We started down four, but I thought we could climb back in it,” Reddout said. “The guys kept their heads in it and kept battling. We’re starting to come around a little bit.”
The Outlaws will host the A’s again today at 7 p.m.
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McNeely's two big plays key Outlaws
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