Two state-ranked teams rarely play for a district championship, but that was the case Wednesday when Class 2 No. 6 Purdy took on No. 2 Marionville.
The Eagles plated the first run of the game. Josh Brown reached on an error, then stole second, setting up Zach Henderson to reach on an error with a two-out grounder, allowing Brown to score.
Marionville answered in the third when a walked batter advanced to second on a passed ball and was driven in by a grounder to the shortstop.
The game stayed even until the fifth when a line-drive double to center field put two more Comets across home plate. In each of the final two innings, three Eagles went up, and three Eagles went down.
Joshua Hughes, Purdy baseball coach, said when it comes to district play, this game was one to watch.
“Marionville is a really good team, and we played right there with them, so we’re a pretty good team, too,” he said. “I wish the state could find a way that two really good teams don’t play one another in the district tournament, but it’s tough to know at the start of a season who is going to be really good.
“But, both of us played really good. We made some plays, and they made some plays. They just had a big hit in the fifth, and we couldn’t get another big hit back.”
Hughes said he called a curveball on that Comet double in the fifth, a call he may have altered looking back.
“Maybe I call a fastball there next time,” he said. “The kids did a good job and played hard. It was just two good teams, and their big hit came with men on base, and our big hits came with no one on base.”
Despite falling short of a district title, Hughes said the team achieved many of its goals this year.
“We always say early in the season we want to win a conference title, which we did,” he said. “We want to win a district title, and we got close. And, we want to make a run at the Final Four, which we didn’t get the opportunity to do.
“But, we were 23-3, and we went 17-6 in the fall. This team is 40-9, and I’ve never had a team win 40 games in a year — that’s impressive.”
A cascade of highlight moments came in those wins, so many Hughes can’t pinpoint the biggest one.
“We had four or five games where we were beat or down late and came back,” he said. “We scored 6 with two outs against Lamar to beat them in the last inning, and we scored 10 runs in the last two innings to beat East Newton. Any time you have 23 wins, you get a lot of opportunities.”
The Eagles will remain almost intact next season, losing only Zach Henderson and Mathew Cornelius.
“Mat and Zach are very good kids and players, and they will be missed,” Hughes said. “They’ve been in the program since day one, going from freshmen JV players to senior All-Conference players. They fought and clawed for every opportunity they got, and that’s what you want as a coach. They worked hard, played hard and gave us a chance to win.”
Beyond the two graduates, the Eagles return an extra healthy portion of the roster, including its top five batters in hits and RBI.
“We have six juniors and a sophomore returning next year,” Hughes said. “We’ll set the same goals again because that’s what we expect for this program.”
Hughes said a behindthe-scenes contributor to Purdy’s success is assistant coach Derek Mann, who is leaving the job for another school.
“Derek has been a huge asset over the last five years, and he will be missed,” Hughes said.
Stat-wise this season, Travis Hughes led the team in hits with 35, and Ezequiel Garcia led in RBI with 35. Bosten Goetz scored the most runs with 36, and Hughes and Garcia were both batting over .400. Eight Eagles in total were batting over .300.
On the mound, Hughes played 11 games with 8 starts and 7 wins, posting an ERA of 1.925 and 51 strikeouts. Garcia played in 10 with 8 starts and 4 wins, finishing with an ERA of 2.315 and 75 strikeouts.
Trey Hughes played 10 games and started 6, getting 5 wins. His ERA was 4.412, and he struck out 55 batters. Hunter Lee rounded out the pitching corps, playing in 9 games and starting 4, earning 5 wins and 2 saves. His ERA came in at 1.400, and he struck out 29 batters.
