Three times Festus Post 253 took a lead against Jefferson City Post 5 in their American Legion state playoff game at Liberty Park in Sedalia on July 27.
But all three times the team from the state capital immediately answered to tie or take the lead as both teams tried to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.
With Festus leading with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Post 5 finally found the mark when Jace Kesel singled to left on a two-strike pitch, scoring Jacob Schulte with the game-winning run in Jefferson City’s 5-4 victory. It ended Festus’ season at 17-17.
Jeff City starting pitcher Max Buscher retired Post 253 in order in the sixth and, after Laine Axtetter reached on an error for Festus in the seventh, closed out the game to keep Post 5 alive. Jefferson City (24-6-1) won the loser’s bracket with a 1-0 victory over Washington Post 218 and faced winners-bracket winner St. Joseph Post 11 for the championship. Jeff City forced a second, winner-take-all title game by edging St. Joe 7-6, but Post 11 (22-7) rebounded to win 8-5 and earn a trip to the Mid-South Regional tournament in Pelham, Ala. The winner there advances to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C. Aug. 11-16. Festus, winners of five state championships, last qualified for the World Series in 2019.
“You have the same love and investment in those guys,” said Festus head coach Aaron Mayer, who completed his first season at the helm. “I’m so enormously proud of this group. If you’d asked a lot of people around the county if we’d end up here after starting 0-4 and 5-12, many would have disagreed with that. These kids didn’t care. They put their heads down and put in the good work. The results started coming our way.”
Conner McDonald, Jackson Gross, Anthony Simon, Nate Moore and Connor Hulsey played their first baseball game of 2022 for the Festus Tigers on March 19. After losing 6-1 to Platte County in the Class 5 state championship game on June 4, the five Tigers joined Post 253 and made an immediate impact. They joined a team with many all-conference players from across the county and all that talent meshed into the Zone 4 champions.
“It’s a great community and I love the boys I play with,” said Gross, who will be a senior at Festus High and relieved Post 253 starting pitcher Dylan Black to start the fifth inning against Jefferson City. “I know all the coaches and it’s a great team to be around. It was a great experience at high school and now here.”
All summer, leadoff batter Jaxin Patterson used his speed and power to intimidate defenses once he got on base. The 253 shortstop and Hillsboro senior got things going against Jefferson City when he led off the game reaching second base on an error on an infield grounder. Patterson then advanced to third base on a wild pitch and made it 1-0 on Sam Stokes’ sacrifice fly.
The first three Post 5 batters got on base against Black when Calen Kruger singled, Nick Jefferies walked and Jaden Kolb tied the game, scoring Kruger with a double. Black struck out the next two batters and stranded two runners with a popout to Patterson for the third out.
“I bounced back after the first few innings,” said Black, who will be a senior at Herculaneum and was a first-team all-JCAA (small-schools) performer for the Blackcats this spring. “They were hitting me around and I couldn’t find my curveball or my fastball, (but) I found them in the third or fourth inning. Both teams were really seeing the ball well today and they had a lot of backside hits.”
With one out in the second, Canyon Stout doubled off Buscher and scored when Simon doubled to center field to give Festus a 2-1 lead. With two outs, Gabe King singled, moving Simon to third base, but Patterson grounded out to end the threat.
Black retired the first two Post 5 batters in the bottom of the second, but Luke Cavender and Kruger singled and Cavender scored from third on a wild pitch to tie the game 2-2.
It stayed that way until the fifth. King and Patterson singled to start the inning. Both advanced a base on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Axtetter. Stokes sent a towering fly ball over Trevor Jordan’s head in left field and King scored to make it 3-2. McDonald then hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Patterson and pushing Stokes to third. Buscher stopped the damage there with two flyouts.
After a strikeout to start the Jefferson City fifth, Jefferies reached on an error by Stokes at first base. With two outs, Jefferies went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Nate Roark. Jacob Schulte tied the game 4-4 with a single before Kesel’s game-winning hit.
Stokes, an incoming senior at Jefferson High, was two-for-four against Post 5 and swung one of the hottest bats for Festus, starting in the District 13 tournament.
“I’ve been seeing the ball very well lately,” Stokes said. “I’ve been working really hard and I try to step up because early in the season I started off kind of rough. (On the double) I saw a fastball and hit it. (On the error) I tried to chest the ball up and it didn’t go the way I thought it would.
“We grew some (guts) and decided to start playing as a team. My favorite part of the season was the zone championship, where we walked off against (Ste. Genevieve Post 150).”
Stokes was two-for-three in 253’s first game of the state tournament, a 4-2 loss to Washington in eight innings. Post 218 scored two runs in the eighth and won despite being outhit 11-8. Three Festus errors helped Washington’s cause.
Axtetter, Gross and Stout also had two hits against Washington. Moore pitched seven and one-third innings for Festus, striking out nine. Dominic Sutton struck out one of the two Post 218 batters he faced in relief of Moore.
Post 253’s final five games were decided by a combined seven runs. After losing to Post 150 in the District 13 final, Festus beat Ste. Gen 7-5 and 9-8 in the zone tournament.
As he did after taking the zone title, Mayer gave credit not only to his players but to his assistant coaches as well.
“I believe I have the best assistants anywhere,” he said. “They make my life easy and I feel I’ve done less as a head coach than I’ve done as an assistant. Scott Byrne, our pitching coach, I trust to handle any situation. Matt Eisenbeis is a great young coach and I’m really excited to see what that looks like for him in 10 years. Someday, I’ll be telling people I got to coach with Matt Eisenbeis. Steve Horrell was absolutely invaluable to have his expertise around.
“We competed our tails off and I’m proud of the effort of Dylan Black and Jackson Gross. Tip your cap to Jefferson City. Now we move forward and we’re going to work to get back here.”