With leadoff batter Ryan Bradford nearly impossible to keep off the bases, no lead is safe right now over the Seckman baseball team.
Fox found that out the hard way Saturday as it squandered an 8-0 lead and watched helplessly as the Jaguars roared to a 12-8 victory in the championship game of Class 6 District 1. It’s the first district title for Seckman (20-11-1) since 2013 and the Jaguars’ second under head coach Brad Hagedorn, who has piloted the program since 2011.
Seckman will visit Lafayette (23-12), the District 2 champion, Saturday in the state quarterfinals. The teams did not meet in the regular season.
“Obviously, you don’t have a pregame meeting to spot them eight runs, but man, the heart of the kids to keep going,” said Hagedorn, whose voice was worn raw after the game. “Great at-bats toward the end of the game, picking up teammates. If there’s a strikeout, the next guy gets a hit.”
Fox (19-10) entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed, but shut out No. 4 Lindbergh (18-15) 2-0 in the first round and then upset top-seeded Jackson (25-8) 4-1 in the semifinals. The Indians were third in the state last year.
For the first 2 1/2 innings of the district final, everything went Fox’s way.
The Warriors built a big lead, chasing Seckman’s No. 3 starting pitcher, senior Hayden Boyd, in the first inning after he walked four, gave up three hits and allowed five earned runs. A double by junior Ethan Mazzola and single by junior Andrew Bendler gave Fox a 2-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Boyd walked junior Connor Geist and senior Will
Bruenger and was relieved by freshman Max Jones, who promptly walked junior Lucas Urschler to increase the lead to 5-0.
In the second inning, Jones got the first two Warriors to pop out, but walked senior Seth Steiger and sophomore Brad Christman, who both came in to score on singles by senior Corban Waller and Geist for a 7-0 lead.
Jones (four walks, three hits, three strikeouts) exited after the third.
Starting on the mound for the Warriors, Geist retired Seckman in order in the second. Fox boosted the advantage to 8-0 in the third when Mazzola was hit by a pitch and scored on Bendler’s triple.
“The guys came out and played exactly as we had formulated the game plan, and the way we had been executing since after the 0-4 (season) start, with the bats and pressure we put on defenses,” Fox head coach Neil Richardson said. “We know how good their offense is, and it slipped away in the middle of the game.”
After Geist fanned the first Jaguar batter of the third, the comeback began. Senior Tyler Tipton singled and Bradford drew a walk, the beginning of a monster district tournament performance that included three home runs (two leading off games), seven hits, five walks and nine runs scored. Junior Brady Vessells smacked a three-run home run to make it 8-3.
With two outs, senior Zach Walters walked and junior Connor Day singled to extend the inning. Senior Carter Hutsell doubled both runners home and the 8-5 score had the Jaguar dugout and large cheering section in an uproar.
“When we are on, we are on,” Hutsell said. “Bradford the last few games, with the leadoff homers. Our offense is rolling.”
In Seckman’s 13-6 win over Poplar Bluff in the first round, Hutsell was the starting pitcher and earned the victory, but Hagedorn pulled him out after 3 2/3 innings to save him for potential relief duty. That came in the fourth frame of the district final when Hutsell struck out the side, adding further fuel to the comeback.
“I’m thinking, just hit my spots,” Hutsell said. “I was in center field for the first few innings and saw what they could and couldn’t hit, and (I) hit my spots the whole game. Big (props) to my catcher Brady (Vessells) for calling those pitches. I never shake him off.”
Hagedorn said starting Boyd against Fox was the right move, and he was impressed with the way Jones came in and battled in a district championship.
“We played the wild card with (Hutsell) (against Poplar Bluff) by taking him out early with a big lead and bet on the bullpen for this opportunity,” Hagedorn said. “And what a bullet to have, to go to him and he gave us four scoreless innings. That first zero he put up after (Vessells’ homer) was huge.”
Christman relieved Geist and pitched around a single in a scoreless fourth. Hutsell sat down the Warriors in order again in the fifth. In the bottom half, senior Nathan Higgins led off with a single, and Walters doubled him home to make it 8-6. With one out, Hutsell drove home Walters and senior Tommy Gibbar’s double plated sophomore courtesy runner Cam Benson for an 8-8 tie score.
The Jaguars scored their final four runs on a single by senior Tyler Tipton, a triple by Bradford, a passed ball, a dropped third strike and a double by Higgins. Hutsell retired the final six Fox batters to seal the victory.
“Once we got that home run from Vessells – now we’re still down 8-3 at that point – you could see everybody take a deep breath and say, ‘Hey, we’re OK,’” Hagedorn said. “These last three games, we’ve been getting base hits with two strikes and making the pitcher throw extra pitches.”
Bradford, Higgins and Hutsell each had two hits in the 12-hit attack that featured four doubles, a triple and a home run. Bendler led Fox with two hits and two runs batted in.
In Fox’s win over Jackson, Bendler was the winning pitcher, working five innings and striking out four. The one run he allowed was unearned. Geist pitched two innings of scoreless relief. Mazzola had two hits and two RBIs and junior Tanner Abram scored twice.
“We got a lead, extended it, and we did it through execution,” Richardson said. “We played really good defense and pitched well. We kept their leadoff guy off the bases.
“That was the secret to when we turned the season around – the defense played well and the pitching was solid all year long. Our staff (ERA) was something like 2.50.”