Mason Libla was robbed of an RBI in his first at-bat Thursday. He finished with five, breaking a pair of ties and adding insurance for the Mules.
The Poplar Bluff senior capped a two-out rally in the fourth inning with a go-ahead double and added another two-run double in the sixth in an 8-4 win over Kennett at Strenfel Memorial Field.
"I went up there with the mentality just to smash the ball," Libla said. "That's why I'm in the four-hole, you've just got to have that mentality to go up there and smash the ball every time and drive in runs."
The Mules (4-0, 1-0 SEMO) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but sophomore Noah Burkey retired six of the next seven he faced and Poplar Bluff overcame a lineup miscue to open conference play.
Tyson Cox extended the fourth inning when the senior beat the throw to first for an infield hit to the left side.
Austin McIntosh threw drew a four-pitch walk before Turner Fritts was hit by a 0-1 pitch to load the bases.
Libla hit a liner that fell in front of the left fielder, scoring two runs for a 6-4 lead.
Libla's two-run double in the sixth also came after McIntosh walked on four pitches and Fritts was hit by ball four.
"You've got to pick your poison there," Kennett coach Andrew New said. "They've got a good lineup, got a good club again."
Fritts smashed a two-out triple in the first inning but Libla's drive was caught by the center fielder running in to make a sliding catch.
Fritts tied the game in the third with an RBI double down the left-field line after Cole Dickerson led off with a walk and McIntosh's one-out hit up the middle. Libla put the Mules ahead with a grounder to the left side when McIntosh ran on contact and scored as the throw from the first baseman was off-target.
"Turner is a great hitter and he's going to be driving in runs and I'm going to try to drive him in," Libla said.
Burkey's RBI groundout put the Mules up 4-2 after three innings but the sophomore ran into trouble in the fourth on the mound.
Andrew Spence's double followed a leadoff walk and the Indians got a sacrifice fly by Zane Wallace and an RBI single from Brenton Tidd to pull even.
Burkey struck out the next hitter and got a grounder to short to end the inning. He picked up the win, striking out five in four innings, but his third walk to start the fifth ended his day.
"He did really well," said Libla, Poplar Bluff's catcher. "They just put the bat on the ball, they're a good team. They can hit."
The Indians (1-2, 1-1) extended at-bats by fouling off nine two-strike pitches to elevate Burkey's pitch count. One of those came before Spence's double.
Sam Pierce pitched three scoreless innings of relief for a save. The junior left-hander struck out two, walked none and allowed three hits. He picked off a runner and got a double play on a fly ball to Jones in center to end the fifth then pitched out of a jam in the sixth after a leadoff double in a two-run game.
"Our guys battled back when they had to, they stayed up, stayed positive and had each others back," Mules coach Steven Edwards said.
Poplar Bluff appeared to have tied the game in the second inning when Dickerson doubled down the right-field line but New had the umpire check the lineup card. The runner was put back on second base where he was stranded.
Edwards said a last-minute switch flipped the Nos. 8-9 hitters in the order to get Dickerson to hit in front of Cox for a faster runner when there was a pitching change.
"Talked about it before the game, people were just so pumped up, ready to go," Edwards said of the miscommunication.
Dickerson led off the next inning with a walk and later scored the tying run from second base.
"Coach Edwards got another good crew and they did their job today," New said. "When we didn't make pitches they burned us. that's what good teams do."
Kennett won the junior varsity game 9-5.