Baseball

CHAFFEE — Communication in baseball is founded on non-verbal queues amongst its participants, so for Oak Ridge senior athlete Dylan Muench, his not being able to hear to a normal level was an inconvenience, but not something that prohibited him from playing.

CHAFFEE — Stop me if you have read this scenario before: Scott City earns a victory with Jimmy May and Joe Panagos playing key roles late in the game.

CHAFFEE, Mo. — A beautiful, sunshine-filled afternoon is just what the doctor ordered as baseball returned to Southeast Missouri. Three five-inning games took place at Harmon Field, in Chaffee, on Sunday, featuring senior athletes from eight Scott-Mississippi County Conference teams...

With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage area cannot have final moments with their teammates. Below is a special edition of the “Senior Recognition” series, featuring senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage area cannot have final moments with their teammates. Below is the 13th part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Cooter senior Jake Faulkner had an academic-first thought process when he decided to attend Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. “Mississippi State is one of the Top 5 engineering schools in the nation and when I went for a tour it felt like a place I wanted to call home for few years,” Faulkner said. “It has a great student environment with lots of things to do inside and outside of classroom.”...

CHAFFEE — Canceling the 2020 baseball season left every team, most notably senior athletes, without a chance to compete for their schools one last time.

SIKESTON — Baseball is gearing back up. Practices and drills are starting all in anticipation for the first game for each summer program, and although it may not be the season each team envisioned, there is still going to be a season. After the cancellation of the Missouri American Legion baseball season, Sikeston Silver Sox general manager Craig Templeton was trying to find a different alternative...

Malden graduate Tanner Murphy spent time with two major league baseball organizations before he began playing in the Prospect League in 2019. The 2013 Bootheel Conference Player of the Year was taken 133rd overall by the Atlanta Braves in the June Amateur draft in 2013 after batting .600 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs for Malden his senior season...

SIKESTON — Two area baseball teams finished in the top five in the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Academic All-State rankings. Sikeston earned first place for Class 4 schools after finished with a team GPA of 3.85. Kelly finished in fourth place, with a 3.50 GPA, for Class 3 schools...

Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Malden graduate Tanner Murphy has received the opportunity to play baseball for teams based on the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest since he was drafted in the 4th round by the Atlanta Braves in 2013...

The Cooter Wildcats baseball program didn’t have an opportunity to claim the Class 1 state baseball title this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But earlier this week the Wildcats learned they had finished atop the standings in another category in Class 1...

With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage are not able to have final moments with their teammates. Below is the ninth part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Poplar Bluff’s Daryl Vaughn thought his baseball tryout for Hannibal-LaGrange University went well, so did Poplar Bluff coach Steve Edwards. The college said they’d call. It was either going to be a good phone call or a bad one. A few days later, Vaughn’s phone rang, and he excused himself to go outside and take the call. He was offered a college baseball scholarship and recently signed to play for Hannibal-LaGrange...

Malden Green Wave veteran baseball coach Tim Harmon entered the spring hoping to develop a slew of underclassmen on his varsity baseball roster. A dozen of the 20 players that went out for baseball this spring for two-time defending district champion Malden were underclassmen...

Standard Democrat Sports Editor Alex Wallner is introducing a series of stories, titled "Home Early," on former area spring-sport athletes who are playing in college and have had their seasons end due to the coronavirus pandemic. SIKESTON — Jefferson College won its last baseball game of the season. However, its final game came far sooner than expected...

SIKESTON — With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage are not able to have final moments with their teammates. Below is the seventh part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Atlanta Braves scout Jon David French is preparing for the 2020 MLB draft in a much different way this spring. “I’m typically on the road at a baseball game almost every day of the week in the spring,” French said. “I typically visit high schools during the week and colleges on weekends.”...

Kennett graduate Kevonte Mitchell isn’t accustomed to spending springtime at home. Mitchell, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 13th round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft, has grown accustomed to preparing for baseball season at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona...

A first-ever high school baseball tournament featuring seniors who lost their 2020 season due to COVID-19 is being planned for early July by SEMO Conference athletic directors.

BENTON, Mo. — Kelly senior Grant Menz signed his National Letter of Intent to Culver-Stockton College on Wednesday at Thomas W. Kelly High School. Overall, Menz liked what he saw about the campus and what first-year head coach Brad Gyorkos told him about how he would fit on the team...

Good Sports is a column featured weekly in the Southeast Missourian and on semoball.com. It is primarily designed to showcase people who have impacted the sporting life of Southeast Missouri, so that readers may get to know them more fully. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity...

Standard Democrat Sports Editor Alex Wallner is introducing a series of stories, titled "Home Early," on former area spring-sport athletes who are playing in college and have had their seasons end due to the coronavirus pandemic. SIKESTON — What seemed like a normal weekend series against a conference rival, turned to a bitter taste in Trey Smith and the University of Indianapolis baseball team’s mouths...

SIKESTON — With the cancellation of spring athletics for the 2020 season, seniors in the Standard-Democrat coverage are not able to have final moments with their teammates. Below is the second part of a series of stories on recognizing senior athletes, where they are going next, what they loved most about playing their respective sport at their school, and more...

Three Rivers College infielder Zane Wallace didn’t pass up an opportunity to make a good first impression when he played a double header at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, last fall. “Our very last game in the fall we played Itawamba College and East Mississippi Community College at Delta State’s home field,” said Wallace, who is a 2018 Kennett graduate. ...

Standard Democrat Sports Editor Alex Wallner is introducing a series of stories, titled "Home Early," on former area spring-sport athletes who are playing in college and have had their seasons end due to the coronavirus pandemic. SIKESTON — It was never in former Sikeston Bulldog Blake Wolferding’s mind that his season would come to an end so abruptly...

South Pemiscot senior Noah Willingham received a gracious greeting when he went on a recruiting visit to Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri, last fall. “I got to interact with some of their other players on campus,” Willingham said. “They did a great job welcoming me and made me feel like that’s where I needed to be.”...

Cooter senior Hayes Austin elected to change his approach at the plate entering his senior season.

Cooter senior Lane McLevain didn’t want to rule out the possibility of being a two-way player when he signed to play college baseball. Neither did College of the Ozarks. “College of the Ozarks mentioned using me as a two-way player,” McLevain said. “They said I might come in and pitch, play in the outfield, or possibly catch. They said I could end up playing anywhere.”...

Standard Democrat Sports Editor Alex Wallner is introducing a series of stories on former area spring-sport athletes who are playing in college and have had their seasons end due to the coronavirus pandemic. SIKESTON — Former Sikeston baseball standout Nate Self didn’t have quite the freshman season he envisioned at the University of Tennessee-Martin...

Highly touted high school baseball squads projected to make deep postseason runs are often blessed with a strong senior core. Such is the case for the Cooter Wildcats baseball squad this spring. Cooter has five seniors projected to crack its starting lineup on a squad that placed third in Class 1 last season and is ranked No. 2 in the Class 1 preseason state baseball rankings...

Cooter senior Jacob Watkins had College of the Ozarks on his radar before he ever stepped onto a high school baseball diamond. “Before baseball was ever a factor College of the Ozarks was one of the schools I was highly interested in attending because of their work-education program,” Watkins said. ...

Longtime baseball coach Chris McLain never had the luxury of working with his baseball players during the fall before arriving at Senath-Hornersville for the 2019-20 school year. “I never had a fall season before I came to Senath-Hornersville,” McClain said. “Having a fall season is something that is invaluable for a coach that is coming into a program. It gives you an opportunity to learn more about not only their athletic ability but also their character.”...

The Southland Rebels baseball squad is blessed with experience entering its spring campaign. Southland has four seniors, four juniors, and five sophomores out for baseball this spring. “We’ve got eight upperclassmen on our 13-man roster,” Southland coach Matt Bailey said. “Most of the upperclassmen have been in our program since I’ve been here for the last two years so they should know what to expect.”...

Carson Webb and Dawson Hanner have been playing baseball together since as long as they can remember. The Poplar Bluff seniors recently signed their National Letters of Intent to play together at Three Rivers College on the same day...

The pieces appear to be in place for another big year for the Kennett Indians baseball squad if it has an opportunity to compete on a diamond this spring. Kennett has seven returning upperclassmen who started on last season’s squad that put together the Indians’ seventh winning season in the last decade with a record of 17-7...

SIKESTON — Just as spring sports begin to start through the state of Missouri, a worldwide pandemic shuts all of it down. Still, with a hope that their respective seasons will begin, three Standard-Democrat coaches are looking to hopefully start their seasons and give their seniors a chance to play with their friends one final time...

The Holcomb Hornets baseball program enters its spring campaign looking to build upon a 13-5 fall campaign. “We had a pretty decent fall,” said longtime baseball coach Darrin Shipman, who took over the Holcomb program at the start of the 2019-20 school year. ...

The Campbell Camels baseball program enters the 2020 season with the luxury of having a surplus of upperclassmen on its roster. Campbell has eight juniors, one senior, two sophomores, and two freshmen out for high school baseball. “We’ve got everyone back from last year with the exception of Ben Barnett who graduated,” Campbell coach Joe Campbell said. “We’ve got the same players but hopefully they’ve gotten a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger since last year.”...

The Malden Green Wave baseball program enters the 2020 season in search of its third straight district title. “We’ve had a pretty good run since I’ve been here,” Malden coach Tim Harmon said. “We’ve either competed for the district title or been right there in the semifinals so we are looking forward to another run this year.”...

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity...

Expectations remain high for Kentucky State University pitcher Brady Bibbs his senior season. Bibbs, who is a 2016 graduate of Senath-Hornersville High School, has been selected to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II South Region preseason second-team. Bibbs is one of eight baseball players in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to earn a spot on the first or second-team...

The Poplar Bluff baseball team will be hitting the road this spring with trips to Kansas and either side of Missouri. To help with travel costs, the Mules will be hosting a Home Run Derby at Bobby Strenfel Field on Saturday, March 14. There will also be a Fungo Golf Tournament starting at 7:30 a.m. before the 10 a.m. start of the derby...

The SEMO Umpires Association will host its annual preseason meeting, along with MSHSAA rules review meetings for both baseball and softball February 26 at River Eagle Distributing in Cape Girardeau.

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity...

Kennett senior Marshall Brown found exactly what he was looking for when he attended a tryout camp at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas, last fall. “I went on a visit there and liked the atmosphere,” Brown said. “They also have a good baseball program. I just liked everything about it.”...

EAST CARTER — The Redbirds are sending a player to Division I. “It feels pretty good, pretty exciting. I’ve always wanted to play Division I and to finally get to fulfill that is something I’ll always remember,” said East Carter senior Dalton Rudd, who recently signed to play baseball for Western Kentucky. “It’s a lot of weight (off my shoulders). It’s hard to explain. It’s just really exciting.”...

Three Rivers College baseball coach Stacey Burkey has been keeping an eye on Kennett senior Jackson Henfling since he was in middle school. “I’ve known about Jackson for quite a while,” Burkey said. “I knew his family well. His dad pitched for us at Three Rivers so Jackson is a second-generation recruit for us. He’s certainly someone we wanted to represent our program because of his work ethic and high character.”...

Noah Burkey planned on pitching at Three Rivers College where his father has been head coach for the past 26 years. Instead, the Poplar Bluff senior signed his National Letter of Intent on Friday to play at Missouri State University. “That was my plan at first,” Burkey said of playing for his father, Stacey, “but when I got the opportunity to go to my dream school he understood and they supported me through it all...

SIKESTON — Sikeston senior baseball player Payton Howard signed his National Letter of Intent with Saint Louis University on Tuesday at the Sikeston Field House. Howard batted .308 for the Bulldogs in his junior season. He also scored 25 runs, had three triples, two home runs, and 11 RBIs...