FREDERICKTOWN – Fredericktown baseball coach Ryan Hathaway knew his team had as good a shot as anyone to win the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference championship.
The senior-laden Freddies had enough experience to give him an inkling, anyway. Fredericktown made that come to fruition this season, capping a share of the league crown with an 8-1 win at home over Centerburg on Monday, May 10.
“We had a decent idea (of what we had),” Hathaway said. “But until you actually start playing, you’re not really sure. With our senior class, we knew what we had with them. It was just a question of what we had with sophomores and juniors — how they fit in and where we needed the missing pieces.”
Fredericktown and Highland have shared the KMAC title in each of the last three seasons — minus last year, which was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(Missing last year) impacted us a lot,” senior Lincoln Cunningham said. “Just getting used to it, getting our timing down and getting back in the swing of things.”
Cunningham, Caleb Sheriff and Ty Hatfield did what was expected of senior leadership in a title-clinching game.
“Nobody wants to hear a coach yelling at them for two or three days straight,” Hathaway said. “But when it comes from the guys, it just means a lot more. We’re fortunate to have good seniors.”
Cunningham was hit up for an unearned run in the first inning. Brock Hurtt gave the Trojans the lead with an RBI single to score Dalton Hall, who reached base on an error.
After that, Cunningham didn’t surrender a second hit until one out in the sixth. Hatfield threw out the runner on a stolen-base attempt.
“He was able to command his pitches very well,” Hatfield said. “He was able to hit the outside corners or locate it where I wanted. If I wanted it off the outside corner a couple, few inches, he was able to put it there. He threw a good game.”
Sheriff had two hits — both doubles — and drove in two runs to lead the Freddies. Cunningham had a hit, three stolen bases, a run and an RBI; and Kaid Carpenter scored twice for Fredericktown.
“It’s taken the whole year (to fill in the pieces),” Hathaway said. “We’ve had a different lineup, it seems, every game. It’s just kinda picking guys out and seeing who’s had a good week of practice and plugging them in and seeing what they could do.”
Highland wrapped up its share of the crown with a 16-1 win in five innings over visiting Northmor on Friday, May 7, in Sparta.
Like a lot of teams around the state, Highland coach Donnie Kline wasn’t sure what he had in his team after the cancellation of last season.
“Coming off a year of no baseball and a young team, we didn’t know what we were going to get,” he said. “We’re extremely excited for the guys. They really bought into a lot of the things we’ve been discussing.”
Blake Jodrey struck out eight batters and allowed one unearned run over five innings to notch the win for the Scots.
Rider Minnick, Zach Pinkerton, KJ Johnson and Cooper Merckling each had two hits and Dom Carter scored three runs for Highland. Minnick, Luke Cain, Pinkerton and Johnson scored two runs each; Layton Shaffer drove in three runs; and Pinkerton, Johnson and Merckling had two RBIs each.
“I think Friday we played our A-game,” Kline said. “Really — the entire season — this has been one of our more balanced teams since I’ve been here. The focus has been on pitching on defense, because that’s what we typically focus on. But the reality is we’ve swung the bat really well. Our team batting average is .385, which is pretty high.”
