Balanced roster has Mules in pursuit of first SEMO tourney title in six springs

Poplar Bluff High School sophomore hitter Kade Huffman connects with a pitch recently against Dexter at East Park in Dexter.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

The Poplar Bluff High School baseball squad hasn’t dropped a game this season against SEMO Conference (in seven games) competition, which bodes well for the Mules over the next few days in the league tournament.

The No. 2-seed Mules (16-8) obliterated No. 7-seed New Madrid County Central 16-1 on Friday and will battle No. 6-seed Dexter today at 4 p.m. at Whitey Herzog Field in Jackson in a championship semifinal.

“The good thing is,” second-year Poplar Bluff coach John David Patillo said recently, “that we have put ourselves in this position. Now, we just have to go to the tournament and play.”

The Mules have experience and utilized four seniors against the Eagles. However, five of the players in the lineup, as well as junior pitcher Jackson Beis, will all return in 2025-plus.

“We have a (good) group of sophomores,” Patillo said of his roster construction. “We have a really good mix.”

The four seniors (Cameron Settle, Kolby Greenwall, Rylan Seesengood, and Dylan Bratcher) combined for five hits, eight runs, and five RBI in Friday’s win, but the underclassmen played well, also.

Junior Noah Spain hit a triple among his three hits and stole three bases while sophomore Kade Huffman drove in three runs.

Patillo has used freshman Rion Tenchavez and sophomore Myles Johnson at shortstop, while he rested Spain (typically a shortstop) this season by moving him to third base.

“Since he has pitched this year more,” Patillo explained of Spain, “I’ve played him more at third to kind of save his arm.”

Mule junior 'consistently' leading surging 'Bluff in a variety of ways

Tom Davis

There may not be a more potent squad readying to compete in the SEMO Conference Baseball Tournament later this week than Poplar Bluff.

Patillo hasn’t hit Tenchavez or Johnson with frequency and utilized sophomore Bryce Dobbs as a designated hitter, but he likes what he sees defensively out of the young fielders.

“We have two good, young shortstops,” Patillo said. “(Tenchavez) is a very solid player. We have a luxury right now in that we have some pretty good middle infielders.”

Against New Madrid County Central, Beis threw all four innings, didn’t allow an earned run, and gave up just four hits.

“We didn’t have a lot of numbers at the junior level or senior level last year,” Patillo said. “But now that it is a year along, we just have kind of a good mix right now.”

If the Mules win today and in the championship game on Monday (5:45 p.m. at Capaha Park), they will match the program’s best season (18 wins) since 2018, which was also the last time that Poplar Bluff won the SEMO Conference Tournament.