NEELYVILLE -- The runs weren't very easy to come by during Monday's Ozark Foothills Conference game, but with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Matt Dollins delivered exactly what Neelyville needed.
The designated hitter sent a 2-2 pitch into right field for a two-run single and Chaney Trout shined yet again on the mound as the Tigers dropped East Carter 4-0.
"We've done a really good job here lately the last four games of coming out ready to play," Neelyville coach Tyler Thompson said. "Credit to the team for kind of changing their mentality and coming to beat a good team."
Neelyville scored three of its four runs with two outs and scattered nine hits against the Redbirds to win its fifth straight and all but lock up a first-round bye in the upcoming conference tournament.
The inning began for Neelyville (9-3, 4-1 OFC) when Wyatt Moon drew a one-out walk. He advanced to third on Carter Petty's single two batters later before both runners scored on Dollins' single, which snuck through the legs of East Carter's right fielder for a 2-0 lead.
The lead grew an inning later when Austin Ennis hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on Parker Jeffries' sacrifice bunt and scored easily as Nathan Akers pulled a double into the right-field corner.
Neelyville had a chance to do more damage with two outs as Thompson sent Ennis around third on Moon's single up the middle. But on a relay to the plate, Ennis was thrown out to end the inning.
The Tigers missed another opportunity to pad their lead in the third after Trout walked, Petty singled and Dollins dropped down a bunt single to load the bases with no outs.
After recording consecutive strikeouts, East Carter starter Drew Asher sailed a wild pitch to the backstop and Trout took off for home. Redbirds' catcher Dalton Rudd got the ball to bounce back to him and tossed it to Asher, who tagged Trout out at the plate to end the inning.
The Tigers loaded the bases again in the fourth inning with two outs but left all three runners stranded.
"We've got to do a better job scoring those runs or at least putting the ball in play," Thompson said. "If we score two or three more there we kind of open the ballgame up, and that's one thing we've got to get better at."
Neelyville turned out not to need it with their ace on the mound.
Coming off his first career perfect game, and with a comfortable lead in hand, Trout was lights out again even with a slight delay to his start.
The senior right-hander struck out 11, walked two and only allowed four hits on 105 pitches in five innings to get the win. Of East Carter's four hits against Trout (4-0), only two left the infield.
"My arm wasn't feeling that great in the bullpen prior to this one," Trout said. "I was ready and then we were waiting on the second umpire to show up so I had to quickly try and get loose again. I had to really rely on my off-speed stuff and it worked out."
Trout retired the side in order in the second inning and worked around singles in the first and third inning. His only troubling inning came in the fourth when he gave up a leadoff single to Cody Hampton followed by a one-out double to Jordan Douglas that put runners in scoring position for East Carter (8-3, 1-1). Trout needed 10 more pitches to get consecutive strikeouts and end the inning.
"I mean, he overpowered us and that's just the way it is," East Carter coach Scott Henfling said of Trout. "That was our best chance of the game right there and we just couldn't get the hit. He overpowered us and put us back to where we started."
Neelyville added an insurance run in the fifth by reversing its fortunes on plays at the plate.
Tyler Lowe led off the frame with a double and advanced to third before Ennis stepped to the plate. The Tigers' second baseman took a strike before grounding out to the shortstop. Lowe took off for home as soon as the ball was throw to first base and slid past the tag of Rudd to set the final score.
"That was huge," Thompson said. "We're going to be aggressive on the basepaths and we're going to get a guy thrown out here or there, but we're also going to score a huge, extra run once in awhile like we did there."
Trout's day on the hill ended after he walked Jake Andrews to leadoff the sixth. Dollins replaced him and needed just one pitch to enduce a 6-4-3 double play. He gave up one more hit before getting Alex Kearbey to strike out swinging and end the Redbirds' final threat.
"It was kind of a dagger," Henfling said. "Swinging at the first pitch on a new pitcher coming in, that's just being young. Had we been a little more patient we might have gotten something started."
Dollins finished with two strikeouts and walked one on 25 pitches over the final two innings.
"He's done a great job on the mound for us all year," Thompson said. "He gets a lot of groundballs, so in that situation that's the guy you want in the game with a runner on and he did the job."