Van-Far’s pitching staff is a work in progress.

Van-Far vs Wright City Photo Gallery

That was clear on Monday night at home when the Indians lost 8-1 to Eastern Missouri Conference foe Wright City. The game was tied at 1 but then a six-run fifth inning put the game out of reach for Van-Far.

Wright City pitchers racked up nine strikeouts and didn’t strike out once against Van-Far’s No. 1 Reece Culwell. The Wildcats (5-7, 3-1 EMO) only managed one run on two hits against Culwell but changes had to be made when Culwell’s pitch count reached 60 in the fifth inning with one out and the current batter in a 1-2 count. Head coach Cameron Huff said Culwell needs to be available to pitch on Thursday so the instant removal was necessary.

“It’s tough, but we have to be competitive in all games,” Huff said. “Without him or (Gibson) Condie pitching, it’s a struggle.”

Carson Huff covered the rest of the innings for Van-Far (6-8, 2-4 EMO) in what his older brother and coach said was his first varsity outing this season and probably his first varsity mound appearance in years. Huff struggled with his command as Wright City gained baserunners and runs on hits that were just out of reach of the infielders. 

As the game wore on, Huff did improve as he closed his night by taking down the top of the Wright City lineup 1-2-3 in the seventh inning.

“Carson had a high pitch count tonight, but realistically, he only gave up four earned runs,” Huff said. “Honestly, from what I saw tonight, I can go to him. We need to limit pitch counts because he’s getting into high counts.”

Huff said there was one ground ball that could have been an inning-ending double-play ball after Carson Huff allowed the first two runners to reach, but it leaked into the outfield to score one run. The Indians didn’t bounce back after that as Wright City tallied three run-scoring hits of the seeing-eye variety.

Culwell and Gibson Condie have eaten up a majority of the innings for Van-Far this season. Tyson Douglas has the third-most innings but was in a walking boot on Monday, Huff said, after rolling his ankle rounding third base during a game Saturday at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico. 

Unfortunately, Huff said this puts Van-Far in the position where younger and inexperienced kids will have to take the mound to gain that valuable experience. He said he hopes kids like Gage Gibson and Garrett Hopke can cover innings and can eventually give the Indians more of what they lack on the mound.

“It’s tough to cover innings without Reece and Gibson, but at the same time, once districts start, we’ll have time and we can rotate around and use different pitchers pitch-count wise,” Huff said. “We just need more velocity. We’re smaller and younger so we don’t have a lot of velocity.”

Van-Far was able to take a lead in the second inning when Carson Huff stole home after Hopke drew Wright City all-state catcher Bryce Williams’ attention after going for second base. Huff went head first, kicking up a lot of dirt and scoring Van-Far’s first run against Wright City in five years.

“That’s a designed play,” Cameron Huff said. “Whenever we have guys on first and third, we try to get saucy with stuff. We could lay down bunts, a steal or a forced balk play or whatever you want to call it. When you’re facing good teams with good pitching, you have to find ways to produce a run, and that’s a way to produce a run.”

Van-Far plays at conference foe Bowling Green (3-10, 2-2 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.