Nothing came easy for the Liberty Christian baseball team as they traveled to Joplin for the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic Association tournament.

The Eagles’ bus broke down on the trip to Joplin, and a handful of players battled sicknesses during the tournament.

“We had to work around several things down there,” Liberty Christian Head Coach Ron Dickson said.

The Eagles, who earned the No. 1 seed, started off hot with a 13-1 win over Westwood Baptist that was called after three innings.

David Brumagin drove in three runs on two hits, and Dakota Ball and Mike Foran combined for five RBIs in the rout.

Andrew Voss struck out six Westwood Baptist hitters in three innings of work, and the Eagles cruised to the semifinals.

“We had several kids mentally not come ready to play,” Dickson said of his team’s 12-5 loss to Crosspoint Christian.

It was the second loss of the season for the Eagles, both at the hands of Crosspoint.

“They came to play every game out,” Dickson said.  “That was one team that played with a lot of heart no matter what.”

Kameron Bagby gave up four earned-runs and was chased in the second inning.

The Eagles defense committed errors and were sent to the third-place game, where they rebounded for a 7-2 win over Tower Grove.

“He didn’t have it and his defense didn’t play well behind him,” Dickson said of Bagby’s performance. “Crosspoint has a bunch of free swingers on their team and they came out taking hacks.”

Dickson said he was proud of Jake Pietzmann’s effort all weekend.

Pietzmann picked up the win on the mound in the third-place game, and relieved Bagby in the semifinals.

“It didn’t end how we wanted it to end, but it wasn’t too shabby,” Dickson said. “It was a joy being a part of this team and I look forward to seeing them progress going forward.”