FREDERICKTOWN – Three days.
That’s how long Fredericktown had to wait to play Centerburg for the second time, in a game that would decide whether or not the Freddies would repeat as Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference co-champions for the third year in a row.
The game was supposed to be played last Friday, but rainy conditions made Fredericktown’s field unplayable. Instead, the Freddies had to sit, and wait, and watch as area rival Highland clinched its share of the title.
Then they had to get up early Saturday morning for live at-bats – “which no baseball person likes to do,” Coach Ryan Hathaway acknowledged – and they had to wait some more, as the rain once again threatened to postpone their shot at glory.
“After our first game against Centerburg (last Thursday), we were ready just to play them again,” Fredericktown senior Lincoln Cunningham said. “We wanted it done with. We thought we could win.”
A layoff like that could mess with lesser teams, Hathaway said. It could cause them to lose their focus, or their edge, and it could cost them when the time comes to take the field again.
But not Fredericktown. Not this group, and not this year.
The Freddies stayed the course, through the leadership of seniors like Cunningham, and came out Monday with championship-level focus. They picked up right where they left off Thursday, beating the Trojans by 7 runs and claiming a share of their third straight KMAC title.
“There’s nothing better,” a grinning Cunningham said afterwards. “I have friends from all over the county, so it’s gonna be bragging terms for them for the next few years. It’s a dream come true, that’s all there is to it. Especially with my best friends, there’s nothing better.”
Fredericktown and Highland have shared all three KMAC baseball titles, dating back to 2018 (the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Both teams finished 13-1 in the conference this year, losing only to each other; Highland beat Fredericktown 4-1 on April 14, while Fredericktown beat Highland 9-5 on April 16.
The Freddies did it Monday with a combination of defense and timely hitting.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, senior Caleb Sheriff drove a pitch to deep center field, bringing home sophomore Kaid Carpenter from second. The Freddies took the lead in the second inning, as Cunningham reached home on a wild throw and senior Zach Vogelsang scored on a single from senior Evan Rine.
Cunningham scored on another wild pitch in the third, and the Freddies tacked on two more runs in the fifth, as Sheriff and Trevor Jobes reached home on singles. They led 6-1 going into the sixth inning, when Sheriff doubled to bring senior Ty Hatfield home. A sacrifice fly from Cunningham set the final score at 8-1.
Cunningham was dominant on the hill Monday, pitching a complete game and striking out eight batters. He surrendered two hits and a run in the first inning, but settled in quickly after that, using a variety of pitches to stymie the Trojans.
“(I was) just doing what I do every game – trying to pinpoint my locations low, and just trusting the defense is a big part of it,” Cunningham said afterwards. “The defense had my back, so they made their plays.”
Hatfield, the team’s starting catcher, played an equally crucial role in the defensive effort. He picked off two Trojans on the basepaths – one attempting to steal second, and the other leading too far off first – and worked with Cunningham to pick apart batters at the plate.
“He’s calling pitches and just taking over a lot more ownership of the team, with him back behind the plate,” Hathaway said of Hatfield, who spent time at shortstop earlier in the season. “It kind of lets us relax and look at the defensive positioning that we have out there.”
Most baseball teams entered this spring with a high level of uncertainty. With no 2020 season, coaches were unsure who would return and who they could trust on the varsity diamond.
But Fredericktown didn’t have that problem. Hathaway’s starting nine Monday featured six seniors, most of whom have played multiple sports together their entire lives.
The only question, Hathaway said, was whether Fredericktown’s talented underclassmen could play to their potential. After months of individual growth and lineup-maneuvering, this appears to be the case.
“With our senior class, we knew what we had with them, but it was a big question mark with our sophomores and our juniors that were coming back, to see kind of how they fit in and where we needed the missing pieces,” Hathaway said.
“It’s taken the whole year – I mean, we’ve had a different lineup it seems every game. So it’s kind of just picking guys out and seeing who’s having a good week of practice, plugging them in and seeing what they can do.”
Now, the Freddies are peaking, heading into the postseason as conference champions once again. Hathaway gave all the credit to his upperclassmen, who not only helped keep the team focused during last weekend’s layoff, but have also led by example every day during a season unlike any other.
“They’re pretty mature baseball players in the sense that they know how to get themselves ready to play. They’re not an up-and-down type of team, they’ve stayed pretty consistent throughout the year …” Hathaway said.
“That’s everything for us, just letting (the seniors) kind of handle what they need to take care of and making sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do … Just having that many seniors and the leaders that they are – nobody wants to hear coach yelling at ‘em for two or three days straight, but when it comes from one of the guys, it just means a lot more. We’re fortunate to have good seniors like that.”
It’s also a group of upperclassmen that’s used to winning. Many of the team’s seniors played basketball together as well, and they won a share of their first KMAC title this winter.
Cunningham said the goal this spring was to continue that momentum.
“Last year, we didn’t really get a season, so we got thrown off a little bit with our hitting a little bit, our timing and everything,” he said. “Coming into this year, (our mentality was) ‘We’ve just gotta do everything we (can) to win.’ And that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been making it happen.”
The Freddies will now enter the postseason with an opportunity to do more damage. Seeded second in their region, they’ll get a first-round bye before facing the winner of 15-seed Elgin vs. 17-seed Northridge on May 20.
The goal is simple, Cunningham said. Make a run to remember.
“We just want to win a state championship, that’s our goal forever,” he said. “We’ve been talking about it since we were little, and I think we can make it happen.”
For now, though, the Freddies will soak in their latest accomplishment: a third straight trip to the top of the KMAC podium. The seniors in particular seemed to relish the idea on Monday. They have never lost a high school conference baseball championship, and never will.
“It’s been amazing. It’s been fun. It’s been a hard time competing with everybody in the conference – it’s a good conference,” Hatfield said. “But we got here.”
