Baseball

East Carter catcher Eli Marvin signed his National Letter of Intent recently to continue his baseball career at Arkansas Tech. “Playing college baseball has been something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid,” Marvin said. “It’s a thrill to be able to move on and play at the next level. I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”...

Charleston High School graduate James Naile has signed to play baseball with the organization of his dreams. Naile announced on social media Wednesday that he has signed a free agent contract with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. “STL is the reason I love baseball,” Naile said in the post. “They’re the team I grew up rooting for as a kid. I can’t wait to wear the red cleats.”...

Kelly senior Gavin Jansen signed to extend his academic and baseball career for head coach Tyler Smith at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff on Friday. Jansen, a 6-foot-3 senior, hit an impressive .477 last season with 42 hits in 28 games, which ranks 21st all-time in the state of Missouri record books, averaging 1.50 hits per game that ranks 20th all-time in Missouri state history. The switch-hitter also drove in 36 RBIs and stole 23 bags for the Hawks...

His allegiance belongs to the St. Louis Cardinals, but Cory Crosnoe occasionally dips his toes into Atlanta Braves fandom. Crosnoe played in the Braves’ farm system, so the retired Jackson Junior High principal is allowed to double-dip with National League impunity...

The 2021 Tri County Conference Fall Baseball Team has been selected with Nate Rhew of Holcomb and Hayden Nazareanus of Cooter selected as Co-Players of the Year. David Mathis of Cooter and Micheal Snider of Holcomb were voted as the conference Coaches of the Year...

It’s appropriate that the longest-standing amateur baseball team in the country has featured a few long-standing hurlers. Jason Chavez — a former Cape Central standout who went on to pitch at Mineral Area College and Southern Illinois — is among them...

POPLAR BLUFF — The Bears earned their stripes — or rather their stirrups — this week at the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament. Greenville’s Trey Porter tossed a three-hit shutout Thursday afternoon against a Twin Rivers team that scored 30 runs to reach the final, as the Bears claimed the championship 7-0 at Roger Pattillo Field...

POPLAR BLUFF — Twin Rivers took advantage of some early free passes and junior Warren Thurman made sure that was enough to send the Royals into the championship game of the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament. A day after scoring 22 runs, including 10 in the final inning, the Royals extended their scoring streak in an 8-1 win over second-seeded East Carter on Wednesday...

POPLAR BLUFF — Cooper Sturgeon gave himself and the Greenville Bears some breathing room in the sixth inning Wednesday. The freshman’s bases-loaded hit provided insurance after Greenville’s lead was cut to a single run in the top of the inning as the Bears beat Naylor 8-2 in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament semifinal at Roger Pattillo Field...

POPLAR BLUFF — Naylor pitcher Wyatt Yarbro threw strikes and the Eagles were able to beat Clearwater before it got too dark Tuesday at Roger Pattillo Field. Yarbro struck out five, walked just one and only gave up runs in one inning as Naylor beat fourth-seeded Clearwater 7-2 in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament...

POPLAR BLUFF — Neelyville scored runs in bunches early, Twin Rivers did it late as both teams scored a lot Tuesday in the the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament. The Royals needed to score four to pull even in the fifth before hanging 10 on the scoreboard in the sixth for a wild 22-12 win at Roger Pattillo Field...

With a slightly better record and a head-to-head win, Greenville earned the top seed of the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament over East Carter. All games will be played at Three Rivers College starting Monday. In their only meeting, the Bears (13-6, 4-1 OFC) beat the Redbirds 8-6 on Sept. 2. However, in that game, East Carter (10-8, 4-1) was missing two starters who hit first and third in the lineup...

Alex Powderly was as eclectic as he was electric. When the Cape Central slugger wasn’t stepping into fastballs in the summer or holding goal in the fall, he was playing an instrument or gazing at classic muscle cars. When Powderly ­— whose long, brown locks matched his affinity for 1980s rock — walked into a room, it was known...

Despite several defensive mistakes, including three dropped fly balls due to a lack of communication, Clearwater had the tying run on first base in the top of the seventh. East Carter moved its outfielders deep to protect against a double, and Jake Wilder got the save as the Redbirds won 7-5 on Monday in Ellsinore...

The Cape Girardeau Ford and Sons Senior Legion Post 63 baseball team is holding tryouts at 10 a.m. Sunday at Capaha Field. Cape Post 63 — which was 2021 Senior Legion Zone Champions and took third place in the state tournament — is seeking players for its Freshman Legion (15U), Junior Legion (16U) and Senior Legion (18U) teams...

KENNETT – Throughout his highly successful athletic career, Kennett High School senior Tanner Duncan has faced a lot of challenges.

The Oran baseball team took care of business on Wednesday, scoring multiple runs in four of the first five innings, beating Leopold at home, 11-5. The Wildcats put up a fight albeit in loss, scoring three runs right off the bat in the top of the first inning, as Caleb Schaab scored from second base on an error by Eagles infielder Connor Kern to make the game interesting in the beginning...

GREENVILLE, Mo. — Greenville gave away runs early but took even more late. After getting two hits through four innings and giving up as many home runs while committing three errors, the Bears flipped things around in the final three innings. They nearly batting around in the fifth and sixth while the defense faced two batters over the minimum to rally from five runs down and beat East Carter 8-6 Thursday...

There are few businesses anywhere in the world that haven’t had to think differently over the past couple of years in this ever-changing environment that we are all immersed in, more than likely, forever. And Semoball.com is not immune to that. The website devoted to providing sports fans thorough coverage of sports throughout Southeast Missouri is still going to make that its mission on a daily basis, however, the internal pieces are going to be doing some shifting moving forward.

Oran head baseball coach Joe Bickings and his team started their fall baseball season off on the right foot over the weekend as the Eagles shut out South Iron, 13-0. at a game played at Van Buren on Friday. Oran then traveled to Ellsinore, MO. on Saturday and won a twin bill with East Carter, 10-6, and won the later game against Arcadia Valley, 12-1...

Naylor softball returns seven starters, but the two graduating seniors from last year’s 13-7 team were no small losses. Pitcher Alyssa Urich and shortstop Makenzie Crofford will be respectively replaced by junior Destiny Thomas and senior Shae Sarabia...

If baseball were a subjective sport, then the McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels may not be in the position that they currently find themselves in.

The McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels dropped their final game of the Senior Babe Ruth World Series Wednesday night, but still qualified for the tournament portion of the World Series. The Squirrels allowed six runs in the first two innings against the host Alabama Rawdogs and never recovered falling 6-2...

The McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels improved to 2-1 in pool play at the Senior Babe Ruth World Series Tuesday night, defeating Stafford, Virginia 10-4, despite having only base hit on the night. The Charleston-based squad busted out of the gate Tuesday, scoring six runs in the first inning, using four walks, a hit batter and error along with a 2-RBI double by Skylar Morrison...

Neither of the two local baseball squads got off to the type of starts that they wished for at the 2021 Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series over the weekend in Mobile, Ala.

The 24-11 McDonalds Fighting Squirrels will have the privilege of playing in the 19u Senior Babe Ruth World Series tournament in Mobile, Alabama, this weekend. Squirrels head coach, Michael Minner is motivated to start competing with some of the best teams in the country and believes his team has a real shot to win it all...

CHARLESTON - As the month of July began, the McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels were more resembling the “faltering” Squirrels than playing like a tough nut to crack. The 16-18-year-old baseball team dropped four of their first six July games and an extended postseason was not a certainty in anyone’s minds.

It was fitting that the final game veteran umpire Joe Bill Davis worked was a regional championship game. In his 40 years, Davis has called many championship games but the regional was to be his last. After 40 years calling balls and strikes and making safe and out calls, Davis is stepping away...

CHARLESTON - There are obstacles for the McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels to reach the 2021 Babe Ruth Baseball 16-18 World Series in Mobile, Ala., not the least of which was trying to beat their rival, the Southeast Tropics, in the Regional and State Tournaments last week.

CHAFFEE, Mo. — The McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels used a late rally to stay alive in the Missouri 17U State Babe Ruth Tournament Thursday night at Harmon Field in Chaffee. Trailing 10-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Squirrels scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and three in the bottom of the sixth to get past the Perfectos 11-10 in loser’s bracket game of the state tournament...

It was a long 11 inning battle between the McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels and the SEMO Spartans on Wednesday in the Missouri 17u Senior Babe Ruth Tournament, but the Spartans came back late in the game to win in a close 3-2 final score. The Fighting Squirrels were able to get two runs in the first four innings of the game, however they could not score anymore through the rest of the game. ...

CHARLESTON – The numbers from Tuesday’s Babe Ruth Midwest Plains Regional Tournament championship game, as they pertained to McDonald’s Fighting Squirrel pitcher Luke Nichols, didn’t necessarily lie, but boy, were they deceiving.

The Jackson Freshman pose after winning the American Legion state championship on Sunday after going unbeaten for the entire tournament in Ballwin, Mo. The team won the title game 13-3.

SIKESTON — Eureka Post 177 coasted to the Missouri American Legion Baseball AA Zone 4 Tournament championship, defeating Festus Post 253 14-4 at VFW Stadium Sunday evening. Despite the game being delayed by over four hours due to rain, Eureka came out on fire, scoring four runs in the top of the first without logging a single hit...

CHARLESTON — The McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels rolled through pool play of the Midwest Plains Regional Saturday, outscoring their opponents 33-3 in two games. Squirrels 16, Buckley Bombers 1 In their opening game of pool play Saturday morning, the Squirrels took advantage of nine walks and four errors from Buckley, cruising to a three-inning win...

CHARLESTON — It was a slugfest for the Southeast Tropics when they took on the Akadema team from Salina, Kansas in the 2021 Midwest Plains Regional on Friday. The Tropics put up eight runs in the first inning of the game and they never looked back as they demolished Akadema 19-0 in a short three inning game...

SIKESTON — It was a very one-sided game when The 15u Sikeston Silver Sox hosted the 17u Eureka Post 177 on Thursday in the Missouri American Legion Baseball AA Zone 4 Tournament as nearly everyone on the Eureka team contributed on the offensivee side leading them to an 11-2 victory...

Kennett talent Reese Robinett isn’t spending the summer competing on a baseball diamond close to home. Robinett, who has committed to play baseball at the University of Arkansas, is traveling the Mid-South playing travel ball for the Arkansas Stix this summer...

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Southeast Tropics 19U first baseman Jeffery Miller took matters into his own hands. Miller hit a hard ground ball to left field scoring both runners already on base. The Tropics would score three more runs in the inning to beat the McDonald's Fighting Squirrels 5-3 on Monday at Capaha Field to win the 2021 Babe Ruth State Championship...

Prior to the MSHSAA Class 4 Boy’s Soccer state championship game last November in Springfield, Jackson senior goalkeeper Luke Mirly wasn’t exactly feeling great.

The Semoball Cup is presented to the school with the most successful season based on a formula that takes into account the combined winning percentage of all sports teams (WIN) plus bonus points for advancement in postseason play for both teams (POST) and individuals (IND). The bonus points are divided by the number of teams a school fields. Here are the standings with previous rankings from 2020:...

CHARLESTON - There is no shortage of top-quality high school baseball players throughout the Semoball.com area, so selecting just 10 players to be nominated for the 2021 Semoball Award for the Boy’s Baseball Athlete of the Year is a difficult task.

CHARLESTON — The Cardinals Legacy Perfectos exploded for five runs in the seventh inning to get past the SEMO Tropics 17u team 10-5 in the second round of the 2021 Missouri Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament Thursday night. The two teams traded leads for the first five innings of the game until Brandon Palmer hit a solo home run over the left field fence to even the game at 5-5. Palmer went 2-2 with a walk, sac fly and collected two RBI to help his team...

CHARLESTON - The 17U McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels rebounded nicely less than 24 hours after suffering a 10-9 extra-inning loss to the Perfectos in its first game at the Missouri Senior Babe Ruth state baseball tournament on Wednesday. The 17U Squirrels jumped out to 6-0 lead by the end of the second inning and hung on to beat the SEMO Legends 12-3 in an elimination game at the double-elimination tournament on Thursday...

CHARLESTON – McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels manager Michael Minner is in his 17th season of guiding the summer baseball team, so he has learned what it takes to succeed in the postseason.

CHARLESTON — The Cardinals Legacy Perfectos were able to pull out a win against the McDonalds Fighting Squirrels in a close game that went into extra innings on Wednesday in the opening round of the 2021 Missouri Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament. There was a combined 19 runs between the two teams, however, the Perfectos outlasted the Fighting Squirrels on a walk off single by Jaden Thacker to end the game with a 10-9 score...

PARAGOULD - The McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels are headed into postseason play on a high note after beating Paragould (Ark.) Legion 13-4 in five innings in the nightcap of a road doubleheader Monday. The visiting Fighting Squirrels scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings to build a 11-0 lead by the conclusion of the top of the third inning...

Beginning Wednesday, Charleston will be hosting the 2021 Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament for 17u and 19u baseball teams. The tournament will be from Wednesday to Sunday and will include the Perfectos, Semo Legends, Tropics 17u and 19u team, Orioles 17u and 19u team and the McDonald’s Fighting Squirrels 17u and 19u team...

The Cape District Post 63 extended their win streak to three games Wednesday evening, defeating Sikeston Junior Silver Sox 10-4. Cape came into the game with a 2-14 record, however the two games they have won were back-to-back just days before the game on Wednesday...

2018 Kennett graduate Zane Wallace has entertained the idea of playing baseball at Lyons College in Batesville, Arkansas, since he was a senior in high school. “I talked to Lyons College twice before this summer,” Wallace said. “I spoke with them when I was a senior in high school and again shortly before I graduated at Three Rivers College. I’ve always felt like it would be a really good fit for me.”...