Get ready for two days of the best baseball the county has to offer when Festus and Hillsboro play each other today (April 23) and Friday.
The Jefferson County Activities Association large-schools rivals want to put their stamp on the 2026 season by winning the conference and setting themselves up for a top seed in Class 5 District 1. So far the Tigers are 12-4 overall and lead the large-schools at 4-0. But they were shut out 5-0 by Farmington in their most recent game April 18. The Knights aren’t in the conference, but they’re hosting District 1. Festus played home games against Ste. Genevieve on Monday and Seckman on Wednesday after deadline.
The Hawks (10-5, 2-0) returned from their trip to southwest Missouri after having played four games April 17-18. After beating Branson 6-2 and 12-1 the first day, Hillsboro pitchers allowed 22 hits in a 13-1 loss to Logan-Rogersville and 11-5 defeat against Fair Grove. The Hawks hosted De Smet on Monday. Heavy rain fell on
Hillsboro’s field while it was on the road trip, which actually will help when the Hawks host the Tigers today as long as it doesn’t rain again.
Despite Festus having two games before playing the Hawks, I’d suspect that the Tigers will have pitchers Cale Schaumburg and Jackson Smith ready to fire. Schaumburg was masterful in a 12-1 conference win over Windsor on April 14 when he pitched a complete-game two-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Smith was sturdy in his last start, a 5-2 win over North County on April 17. He fanned eight and allowed five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Hillsboro pitcher Jackson Marks picked up the 6-2 win over Branson, but he had plenty of help out of the bullpen. Starting pitchers Cash Linderer and Hunter Grewe are both capable of matching up with the Tigers. It’s going to be interesting to see how Festus head coach Jeff Montgomery and Hillsboro head coach Matt Thompson set up their pitching staffs.
I think this year’s games will be a carbon copy of 2025, when Marks tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory, followed by Cale Schaumburg and Jackson ljames combining to shut out the Hawks 2-0. Schaumburg went the distance in a 7-4 win over the Hawks in the district tournament.
“Should be a fun series as always, couple big arms going toe to toe, I’d assume,” Thompson said. “Marks will have one of the starts. Depends on some other factors who goes in the (second) game, but most likely it will be Linderer or Grewe.”
In the JCAA small-schools race, Herculaneum (9-5) leads the pack at 4-0 after sweeping Crystal City on April 9-10 and St. Vincent on April 14 and 16. The Blackcats won the first three games in those two series by a combined score of 36-5. In the second game against the Indians, Herculaneum junior Austin Brinkley’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh led the Blackcats’ walkoff 6-5 victory. Sophomore Eli Strinni also hit a home run, doubled and pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning.
Herculaneum wraps up its conference schedule this week with home-and-home series against Jefferson (9-3, 1-0) on Monday and Tuesday after deadline, and today and Friday against Grandview (1-6, 0-5).
“It’s always great to be in position to compete for a conference title,” Herculaneum head coach Blane Boss said. “That’s always a goal, and our boys are excited to be able to compete versus a very tough conference opponent.”
Seckman is 13-5 and has won seven games in a row. The Jaguars lead the Suburban Conference Red pool with a 3-0 record, and they hosted Oakville (11-5, 3-1) on Tuesday and are at home against Kirkwood (8-7, 2-2) today.
Seckman pitchers Carson Hardin, Cole Mann and Cory Hilzinger are making their case for the best pitching staff in the county. Hardin is 5-0 with an ERA of 1.59, while Mann is also undefeated at 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA.
Unaffiliated St. Pius X is 7-7 this season after falling 8-2 to Valle Catholic in Ste. Genevieve on April 13, defeating Valley Park 3-2 at GCS Ballpark on April 15 and winning 8-7 at Clayton on April 16.
In the win over Valley Park, Cayden Payne threw 6 1/3 innings, and Javeon Russell picked up the save after getting the final two outs, including a bases-loaded two-out strikeout.
In the win over Clayton, Jaxson Black was the winning pitcher and Ray Geiler earned the save. Geiler also had a bases-clearing double and was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
This week, the Lancers play seven games in six days against Scott City, Cape Girardeau Notre Dame, Belleville East, Brentwood, and the Wood Bat Tournament in Cape Girardeau with Clayton, Cape Central and Pattonville.