Rams’ Baseball Season Comes to a Close
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By Sara Smith
The task at hand was to win at the state level of tournament play. Winning districts vs. Scotland and Putnam was sweet, but a win at the state level would be even sweeter. If they could win two games in the state tournament they would move on to the final four, higher than any Schuyler team has ever gone.
The state tournament bracket starts with the sectional round consisting of 16 teams, all of the Class 2 district champions. There is no seeding at this level, the teams move through the bracket based on their district. Schuyler is Class 2 District 6 in baseball. After the sectional round, the bracket goes to the quarterfinal round, with eight teams. Following that is the semifinals with four teams. Once a team makes it to the final four, the team is guaranteed two more games. The bracket has a championship game and a third-place game.
Monday, May 20 vs. Van-Far @ Schuyler County (State Sectional Round)
The location is determined by the bracket itself, since it is an even-numbered year, the game location goes to the team on the bottom of the bracket. In this case, we were playing the winner of District 5, Schuyler was at the bottom of the bracket and would serve as host.
The Van-Far Indians are an unfamiliar team, from an unfamiliar district. In regular season play the Indians and the Rams had two common opponents. Both teams lost to Northeast (Cairo), and both beat Paris so that didn’t provide much insight.
The Van-Far team and fans made the two-hour-plus trip from the Vandalia/Farber area, southwest of Hannibal. The Indians came into the game with a record of 9-13 and were the #3 seed in District 5. The #1 seed was Silex at 11-5. Silex was knocked out of district play by #4 Sturgeon (9-10). The Van-Far Indians’ path to sectionals started by defeating #6 Louisiana (1-14) by a score of 10-0. In the next round, they would face #2 Clopton (7-10) and win by two points, 12-10. In the championship game, they faced #4 Sturgeon and defeated them 12-6.
Would the Rams be ready to face an unfamiliar foe after the emotional win versus Putnam Co. the previous week?
There is no seeding at this level, the home team is determined by a coin toss. The Van-Far Indians won the toss and would be the home team. So, the Rams started the game at the plate instead of being in the field. They saw this as having the first opportunity to score, and so they did.
Elliott Sevits hit a triple to get the Rams started. Gage Brownell followed up with an RBI single and the Rams were on the board.
When it was Van-Far’s turn at the plate, Lathan Martin took the mound. Martin and the defense sat down all three batters the Indians sent to the plate.
In the top of the second, the Rams broke the game wide open, scoring seven runs on three hits. Colin Oliver started it off for the Rams this time, he beat out a grounder to short for a single. Mason Windy was up next, he walked, sending Oliver to second. Cohan Meade advanced the runners and made it to first on an error by the third baseman. Back to the top of the order, Kale Windy walked, scoring a run. Sevits doubled to left to score Mason Windy and Meade. Brownell singled on a ground ball to third, Kale Windy and Sevits both scored. When Lathan Martin came to the plate there were two outs and Brownell had stolen second and third. Martin walked, Weaver walked, and Oliver walked in Brownell.
Martin and the defense held the Indians in the bottom of the second, the score was 8-0 in favor of the Rams.
To the top of the third, Meade started with a walk, Kale Windy reached base on an error by the third baseman, and Brownell walked. Meade scored on a passed ball and all of the runners advanced. Martin hit an RBI single to second, scoring Brownell. Weaver walked, then Eddie Berry singled on a fly ball to right, scoring two, Bryson Wilson (courtesy runner for Martin) and Weaver. Mason Windy walked, Meade singled on a hard-hit ball up the first base line, scoring Berry and advancing Mason Windy to third. Meade then drew the throw to second on a steal allowing Mason Windy to score. Kale Windy singled on a fly ball to left, Meade scored from second. Kale Windy stole second, putting him in position to score when Sevits hit a fly ball to center, scoring the final run of the inning. The Rams scored nine runs to put them up 17-0.
In the bottom of the third, the Indians had their backs against the wall. They had to score three runs or the game was over. Once again, Martin and the defense held. Brody Weaver caught two fly balls in right field that inning. The last one was the last out of the game.
Martin earned the win for the Rams, throwing a complete game shut-out and no-hitter. Martin leaned on his defense for the win. Although the Rams did have one defensive error in the game, they sat everyone else down. Martin delivered one strikeout and one walk. The Indians had only three baserunners during the game, and all three were left stranded on base.
With a 17-0 victory at the state level, Coach Moncrief felt like they “made a statement.” The Rams had earned their way into the tournament and they deserved to be there.
Wednesday, May 22 @ Tipton (State Quarterfinals)
On May 22nd there were only eight Class 2 teams in the entire state still playing baseball, and the Schuyler Rams were one of them.
The Tipton Cardinals were on the bottom of the bracket, so they served as host for the game. This time it was the Rams and the Ram faithful that had to make the 2 ½ hour drive to Tipton, located between Sedalia and Jefferson City.
Just like with Van-Far, the Rams were facing an unknown opponent. The Cardinals and the Rams faced and beat, Fayette and Salisbury, these were the only two common opponents.
The Tipton Cardinals came into the game with a 22-5 record, the Rams record was pretty similar at 19-6. The Cardinals were not ranked until the end of the season when they worked their way into the #10 spot according to the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association (MHSBCA).
To win the Class 2 District 8 title the #2-seeded Cardinals beat #3-seed Linn (10- 15) with a score of 3-0. In the championship match, they faced #1 seed Eugene (22-4) in a game that went into extra innings. At the end of eight, the Cardinals came out on top 2-0. In the state sectional round, they defeated Salisbury 7-2.
On paper, these teams were evenly matched, the stats from the game bear that out as well, even if the score didn’t.
The Tipton Cardinals started their freshman lefty, Eli Higgins. He didn’t have a lot of velocity, but if he could get up in the count, he had some pitches with a lot of movement. The Rams struggled to pick up his delivery. He pitched for five innings, striking out seven, walking two, and allowing only one run. The Cardinals would use two other pitchers before the game was out, neither as successful as Higgins.
The Rams would have eight hits during the game (the same as the Cardinals), but the Rams struggled to string hits together so the Rams only had two runs to show for it. The Cardinals took advantage of their eight hits, two Ram errors, and three walks to put seven runs on the board.
There were plenty of positives for the Rams to take away from the game. Like Brody Weaver’s sliding effort in right field, he didn’t come up with the ball, but it was a spectacular effort from a top-notch right fielder. Kale Windy and Elliott Sevits were a force together in the lineup, as they each collected two hits for the Rams. Windy’s two-RBI single in the sixth scored the Rams’ only points of the game. Gage Brownell, Kale Windy, and Cohan Meade turned a beauty of a double play to end the fifth.
The Rams had opportunities during the game, there were nine Ram base runners stranded on base during the game, the hits didn’t come when needed and the game ended with a Ram loss, 7-2.
Season Wrap-up
All good things must come to an end, including this incredible baseball season. The Rams won the district title for the first time since 2012. They followed that up with a win in the state tournament, which also hadn’t been done since 2012.
The Rams ended with a record of 19-7. This is the most wins recorded by any Ram baseball team.
It should also be mentioned that they won the right way. Coaches, umpires, and fans all commented on the team’s sportsmanship. At the end of every game, win or lose, the entire team would take off their hats to shake hands and say “good game.” A team that had the talent, and the record, to be arrogant was not. These are good boys who work hard and support each other.
This season was the product of a total team effort, with each player filling the role that needed to be filled and doing the job that needed to be done.
The Rams scored an average of 8.4 runs per game, while only allowing 2.7. The pitchers for the team had an earned run average (ERA) of just 2.1. The Rams had 193 hits this season and allowed only 96, they stole 73 bases but allowed only 23. They faced 677 batters this season and struck out 183 of them.
They won as a team, and they lost as a team, but the season was also filled with individual achievements. For example, Elliott Sevits led the Rams at the plate with the highest batting average at .369. Kale Windy led the team in stolen bases with 18. Cohan Meade collected 18 walks this season, the most of any Ram. Gage Brownell had 33 RBIs at the plate, not to mention his seven wins and team-leading 69 strikeouts from the mound. Lathan Martin had six pitching wins and the lowest ERA at 1.050
As the baseball season comes to an end, so does the school year. Eddie Berry will never again grace centerfield for the Rams, he finished his senior year with 22 put-outs and no errors in centerfield. He was clutch in that position, if the ball was hit to center, the team (and the fans) knew that Eddie was going to catch it. Connor Smith and Kale Windy have been starting utility players for the Rams for four years, their high school careers now come to a close as well. Kale Windy was the lead-off batter for the Rams this season and he came through in a big way. He had 30 hits this season, his on-base percentage was .410 and his slugging percentage was .506. Connor Smith made the transition from pitcher to catcher to fill that need for the team. There he used his baseball IQ to call the games from behind the plate and help the other pitchers. He finished the season with an on-base percentage of .404 and a slugging percentage of .390.
All of the seniors will be missed, but they were a part of something great and they helped to lay the groundwork that will continue into future seasons. In his third year as head coach, Brad Moncrief put it this way, “It’s been a great season, and I feel like we are building a baseball program to last for several years moving forward.”
