They would have done better swinging at cicadas.
In a Class 5 baseball quarterfinal Saturday at bug-infested Kopplin Field in Webster Groves, defending Class 5 champion Festus got an unpleasant reminder that their own formula for success – good pitching beats good hitting – can work for the other guys, too. The Tigers scratched out just one hit off Webster right-handed hurler Jackson Torbit in a 4-0 Statesmen victory, advancing the host club to the state final four for the first time since 1969.
Torbit, a slender senior who in his orange uniform top resembles hall of famer Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles, outdueled Festus ace lefthander Mason Schirmer. The burly junior got knocked out in a four-run sixth inning and suffered only his second loss of the season in 11 decisions.
The defeat not only ended the Tigers’ season at 25-8 – including conference and district championships – it brought down the curtain on a remarkable three-year run that produced two conference titles, three district crowns, two state trophies, one state championship and a record of 79-25.
“We came ready to compete,” Festus head coach Jeff Montgomery said. “This team is tested. It just goes to show you, when you get this far along in the playoffs, it’s tough. It’s very difficult to advance and win.
“It sheds light on what we’ve been able to do the last two years. To lose the state championship game two years ago, and a group of boys said we’re going to go back and win it, and we go back and win it – it’s pretty special. This group this year, we really felt like they were going to get back (to state). To win 25 games and go undefeated in conference says a lot about who we are, our team, our culture.”
Schirmer and Torbit battled pitch-by-pitch, batter to batter through five innings as they each finished with seven strikeouts. As so often happens in playoff baseball, the game pivoted on an error. With one out in the sixth, Webster’s No. 9 hitter, first baseman Drew Patrick, hit a hot smash that Tiger third baseman Brayden Beers couldn’t handle. Torbit drew a walk and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Designated hitter Evan Mager, the Statesmen’s top bat with a .429 average, singled sharply to left-center field for a 2-0 lead. Joe Callas and Asher Harp followed with singles to make it 3-0 and Schirmer was lifted for lefty Jackson Smith.
The first batter to greet Smith, shortstop Drew Hauser, laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Callas with the final run of the game.
The only Festus hit was a clean single to right field in the fifth inning by freshman second baseman Brayden Good.
The Tigers tried to make it interesting in their last shot at Torbit. Hayden Bates led off the seventh and was hit by a pitch. Schirmer, who stayed in the game at first base, reached on an error by Webster second baseman Shota Ishiyama. Torbit retired the next two hitters, Smith and catcher Trenton Young, on a groundout and strikeout.
Good drew a walk to load the bases and bring up designated hitter Layton Westrom as the tying run. He slashed a sinking line drive but Harp, the Webster right fielder, hustled forward to snag it for the final out.
This was Webster’s 20th win of the season alongside 13 losses. The Statesmen will face Kearney (29-7) Friday in the first Class 5 semifinal at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex in Ozark.
Statesmen head coach Dave Wiggins said he expected a pitcher’s duel Saturday and was not disappointed.
“Their guy, Mason, is unbelievable,” Wiggins said. “He’s a heck of a pitcher. He’s got a really good fastball and an unreal ERA.
“We knew going in we were going to have to win 1-0, 2-0. But we expected a shutout. I’m not being arrogant when I say that, that’s just how good our guy Jackson Torbit is. I knew how he was going to get up for this game. I am not surprised one bit that he held them to zero runs. He was absolutely brilliant. He gets up for big games.”
Montgomery said Schirmer was sharp as well, using all three pitches in his arsenal for strikes, but credited Webster’s hitters. “They had a good approach at the plate (and) barreled some balls,” he said. “We hit balls hard, too.”
Bates, Smith and leadoff man Brady Nolen each hit deep fly balls that went for long outs in left and center; they would have been doubles if hit to right field, where the Kopplin fence is only 275 feet away and stretches 30 feet high.
“We knew (Torbit) was pretty good, but he pitched really well today, probably his best game of the season – and that did not help,” Montgomery said. “It put a lot of pressure on Mason; it’s been a lot of pressure on our pitchers all year – we’ve got to score runs.”
“He shut us down,” said Bates, who has graduated and will make his next baseball home at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. “It stings a little bit. Good job by them. They came out ready to play. I thought we came out ready to play, also, but we just didn’t have the two-out hits.
“It was an honor to be part of this team.”
Montgomery praised his four senior starters and started looking ahead to 2025, when Schirmer, Nolen, Smith, Beers and Good should form the core of another strong Tiger club.
“We’re in a good place,” the coach said. “Trent Young, Hayden Bates, Will Reese, Tyler Reece, those four guys were big contributors on the field. Trent was unbelievable behind the plate all year and helped our pitching, and what Will and Tyler did in the outfield (was great). Hayden is a generational talent. You get a kid like him every 20 years, that you can build a state championship around.
“It’s a proud group. We’ll be back. We’ll be pretty good again next year.”
Jags fall to Lafayette in Class 6 quarterfinals
Trailing Lafayette 4-2 in the seventh inning of the Class 6 quarterfinals in Wildwood Saturday afternoon, Seckman had the top of the batting order coming up.
Juniors Ryan Bradford and Brady Vessells were hot hitters all through the District 1 tournament as the Jaguars raced into the postseason averaging 13 runs per game in their last three. But Lancer relief pitcher Landon Matthews got Bradford and Vessels to line out and senior Nathan Higgins, who homered earlier in the game, to ground out to secure the victory.
Lafayette (24-12) plays Liberty North (32-8) in one state semifinal Friday and Francis Howell (30-1) faces Blue Springs (26-11) in the other, at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex in Ozark.
Seckman finished 20-12-1. The Jaguars have won 20 games or more each season since the COVID-canceled spring of 2020.
Seckman senior pitchers Carter Hutsell and Kayden Kohlberg didn’t give Lafayette much to work with, allowing just four singles. Hutsell started and pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up the four hits and striking out six. Kohlberg fanned one and walked two, but didn’t allow a hit and the run he allowed was unearned.
“Carter was very good and made a couple of good plays on bunts – two great plays – and threw a lot of strikes,” Seckman head coach Brad Hagedorn said. “They put a lot of pressure on us and took advantage of some mis-rotations to get runners in scoring position and scored. To allow four runs on (four) hits is tough to swallow. They had singles and reached on an error on a great bunt in the sixth.
“When (we were) ahead 2-1, we gave them a few free bases and that’s what baseball is. At the end of the day, we didn’t swing it well enough to win.”
With two outs in the first, Higgins launched a deep fly over the fence off Lafayette starter Tyson Oswald to give the Jaguars a 1-0 lead.
“That was a moon shot to right field,” Hagedorn said.
In the Lancer third, Michael Callahan led off with a single. A sacrifice bunt by Paul Pratte moved Callahan all the way to third and he scored on an error to tie the game 1-1.
“They scratched one across on a strikeout ball in the dirt,” Hagedorn said.
Bradford led off the Jaguar fifth drawing a walk from Oswald. He stole second and with one out, Higgins was intentionally walked. Again, timely two-out hitting pushed Seckman ahead when junior Connor Day slashed a liner to center field, scoring Bradford to make it 2-1.
“Connor had a huge base hit up the middle,” Hagedorn said. “We had the lead with six outs to get.”
In the sixth, Hutsell gave up a leadoff single to Daxton Shawke and walked Xander Schmitt. Shawke stole third and raced home on Will Gebhart’s sacrifice fly to tie the game again. A single by Zach Toben pushed Schmitt across for a 3-2 lead.
The Lancers’ Chase Roden scored an insurance run in the seventh following a walk, an error and a sacrifice bunt.
There will be another day for Day, Bradford and Vessells, who each contributed to the team’s first district title in 11 years. Bradford and Vessells combined for 52 RBIs, 13 home runs and five triples. Bradford hit three home runs in the district tournament. Day hit .325 for the season and was three-for-four against Webster Groves in a 9-0 win in April; the Statesmen (20-13) are headed to the Class 5 final four.
Hagedorn said Lafayette was wary of Bradford’s hot stick.
“They didn’t give (Bradford) a whole lot to hit and pitched around him,” he said. “He got two walks and stole two bases. (Vessells) just missed a couple and they held him in check.”
Higgins (.415 batting average), an infielder, and outfielder Tommy Gibbar (.333) head a group of 10 seniors graduating.
“When you have two of your better hitters coming back (along) with Connor Day, that’s a good nucleus to build around,” Hagedorn said. “We’ve got talent coming up from the JV levels as well.
“The way the kids came to the field, they had fun being there. They were very prepared and put the time in. I can’t say enough about this group of seniors. Pretty much everything we do, we run through them. They’re a great group of young men who will have success in the future, and I loved being around them every day.”
In the Class 5 quarterfinals at Webster Groves, the Statesmen knocked off defending state champion Festus by holding the Tigers to one hit in a 4-0 shutout. Webster (20-13) plays Kearney (29-7) in the semifinals on Friday.
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