PARIS, Mo. \u2014 A sluggish start didn\u2019t stop Monroe City from finding its rhythm. Once the Panthers settled in, a seven\u2011run fourth inning blew the game open on the way to a 10\u20130 shutout of Paris on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
After opening the season with losses to Silex and Unity (Ill.), Monroe City has now reeled off three straight wins, outscoring opponents 35\u20134 during the streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight we overcame a rough start with a big fourth inning, solid defense, and strong pitching \u2014 especially from Blaize Kauble \u2014 to secure the win,\u201d Panthers head coach Adam Rung said.<\/p>\n
For Paris coach Darren Beaver, the night was defined by missed opportunities and too many free bases. The Coyotes allowed just five hits over six innings but issued 11 walks and hit four batters. Two of those free passes came with the bases loaded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to beat anyone when you issue 16 passes to get on base,\u201d Beaver said.<\/p>\n
Monroe City led just 1\u20130 entering the fourth before sophomores Landon Jones and Kauble delivered the breakthrough. Jones ripped a two\u2011run double, and Kauble followed with a bases\u2011clearing shot into center to plate three more. In all, the Panthers pushed five runs across in the inning while capitalizing on Paris\u2019 control issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a good job in the fourth of taking advantage of the free bases they gave us, and then we put the ball in play with some key hits,\u201d Rung said. \u201cWhen you get big innings like that, it\u2019s easier to play out front with the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cobble and the Monroe City defense handled the rest, stranding multiple Paris baserunners to preserve the shutout.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlaze did a good job pitching out of some jams, and the defense behind him made the plays when we needed them,\u201d Rung said. \u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019ve been really solid at the last couple games.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Paris, the loss marked a second straight setback after last week\u2019s 15\u20130 win over Madison. The Coyotes dropped to 1\u20133 on the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the fourth inning was a killer for us,\u201d Beaver said.<\/p>\n
The early-season inconsistency has been a source of frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re 1\u20133, and we\u2019re better than what we\u2019re playing,\u201d Beaver said. \u201cWe practice well. We hit the ball, we make plays, we throw strikes in live BP \u2014 and then we get into games and play like this. We\u2019ve got to take what we\u2019re doing in practice and bring it into the games. I truly believe we\u2019re a better baseball team than we\u2019ve shown, and the kids have to start believing it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paris travels to Silex on Thursday, while Monroe City hits the road to face Westran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS, Mo. \u2014 A sluggish start didn\u2019t stop Monroe City from finding its rhythm. Once the Panthers settled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,2336,2351,5,2316,2323,2314,2317,2313,2325,2330,2333,2334,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,2320,2321,185,2324,2338,2311,2312],"class_list":{"0":"post-655705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-athletic-sports","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-ball-games","11":"tag-base-on-balls","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-baseball-competitions","14":"tag-baseball-events","15":"tag-baseball-finals","16":"tag-baseball-games","17":"tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","18":"tag-baseball-teams","19":"tag-glossary-of-baseball-terms","20":"tag-grass-field-surfaces","21":"tag-lawn-games","22":"tag-major-league-baseball","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","25":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","26":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","27":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","28":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","29":"tag-mlb","30":"tag-mlb-playoffs","31":"tag-mlb-postseason","32":"tag-outdoor-sports","33":"tag-pitcher","34":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-sports-events","37":"tag-team-activities","38":"tag-team-sports","39":"tag-turf-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}