BY DEREK SHORE
Cole Gayman didn't feel at his best when he first started loosening up his arm and began to ramp up in the bullpenpregame.
The control of his fastball felt just a tick off in the bullpen.
But once he made that slow walk out to the pitcher's mound and catcher Brantley Carter squatted behind home plate for the first time, everything fell into sync.
His fastball was "jumping." His changeup disrupted the opposition's timing.
Perhaps most importantly? His frisbee slider was virtually unhittable.
Gayman, a 5-foot-11, 170-pounder, stole the show on Senior Night. The Missouri Southern signee hurled 6 2/ 3 four-hit innings while punching out a career-high 15 batters (13 swinging) in Webb City's 8-0 victory over Central Ozark Conference champion Republic on Thursday afternoon at Chuck Barnes Field.
Webb City coach Flave Darnell said he had never seen Gayman's stuff play as well as it did against the Tigers.
"He looked really, really good," Darnell said. "Cole had an awesome performance. He's an awesome competitor. He's worked really hard. He and Coach (Andrew) Doennig have worked really hard in the bullpen on developing a couple of other pitches. He was able to show those tonight. He pitched into the seventh and I know he really wanted to finish, but he (reached his) pitch limit. He had an awesome game. It's really, really easy to coach when someone pitches like that."
Gayman was pulled after throwing 105 pitches. Noah Mitchell preserved the shutout with a groundout to end the game.
"Today and against CJ, I think I really found my release point," Gayman said. "I think that's been a big factor because early in the season I was up in the zone. I think I just found myself today. My slider has been my out pitch throughout my high school career. Whenever that is working, my day is going to be pretty good."
The Cardinals (20-5, 7-2 COC) finished in second place in the COC standings after Joplin fell to Willard 9-2. Even though the Tigers (16-7, 8-1) had already clinched the COC title, Gayman said his team has bragging rights.
"We have beat them twice this year, so we think we are right there with them," Gayman said. "We think we should be the COC champs."
Gayman immediately set the
tone by striking out the side in the opening frame. Webb City drew first blood in the bottom half when Shane Noel produced an RBI groundout and Matt Woodmansee followed with an RBI single.
Meanwhile, Gayman continued his excellence on the mound, fanning five of the next six batters. The Cardinals erupted for four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 6-0 lead over Republic.
Treghan Parker started the scoring after coming across when Eli Goddard was hit by pitch. Aiden Brock then lifted a sacrifice fly to medium center field before Gage Chapman and Goddard scored on wild pitches.
In the bottom of the fifth, Eric Fitch and Parker rounded out the game's scoring with an RBI double and RBI groundout, respectively.
Gayman struck out the side four times in the game.
"It feels good to know that I think I have hit my stride at the right time this season," Gayman
said. "I hope that just carries on down the road, so I can help our team win."
"He had a really good outing against Carl Junction last Tuesday," Darnell said. "We waited until Thursday to pitch him this game. He looked fresh. He looked ready to go. He looks really, really strong right now.
Hopefully, that can play out in the playoffs for us."
Webb City finished with eight hits, led by Woodmansee and Parker with two each.
Ryker Harrington paced Republic with two hits. Vincent Pyeatt took the loss for the Tigers, allowing six runs on five hits in 2 2/ 3 innings.
"The COC is a really tough league," Darnell said. "Hats off to Republic for running through their first eight games and going 8-0. We stubbed our toe along the way a little bit. That's the way it goes. We feel like we are a really good team. We want to be as good as we can in May. Right now, we are playing really well. We hope we can keep that up."
Webb City hosts Harrisonville and Hillcrest on Saturday.
Joplin Globe 05/07/2021 (Used by permission)