Days after winning their first district title since 1983, and claiming a 1-0 victory in the sectional round of the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s Class 4 state baseball playoffs, the Perryville Pirates were well-positioned for their home-field quarterfinal matchup with Sullivan on May 29.
The Pirates came out swinging, building a 5-1 lead after three innings and seemed poised to make an easy meal of the Eagles. Then came the fourth inning.
The Eagles (18-9), which had been mostly ineffectual at the plate against junior starter Waylon Huber, finally found their rhythm, ripping Huber for 7 runs on 4 hits – including a grand slam — to take a 7-5 lead on the way to an eventual 11-5 victory.
“You get done with the third inning and you’re looking and going, “Boys, this is looking really good,” said Perryville coach Don O’Keefe, “and you go to the fourth and you say, ‘Oh, sweet God.’ ”
Perryville (13-10) built their early lead methodically, as Troy O’Keefe, batting second, singled; Ty Peeler drew a walk; Dalton Fritsche doubled to center field, allowing O’Keefe to score; and Peeler scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
With a little help from the infield, Huber retired Sullivan’s first three batters, and then, after an uneventful second inning, the Pirates were right back at in the third, scoring 3 runs on 2 hits — a single from Peeler and a triple from Barrett Wheeler — along with a sacrifice fly to go up 5-0.
In the bottom of the inning, the Eagles began showing signs of life, scoring 1 run on 2 hits to get within four, 5-1.
Sullivan completely reversed the momentum of the game in the bottom of the fourth, scoring 6 runs on 5 hits — including a grand slam from sophomore Raiden Redd — to take a 7-5 lead.
“I can tell you this, [Sullivan] swung the bats,” O’Keefe said. “There was no question about it, there was no anything like that. They came out, they hit the ball, and they hit it hard.”
The Eagles added 2 more runs in the fifth on a double from Mitchell Garner, and then 2 more on a double from Alex Toews in the sixth to set the final margin.
O’Keefe said that his team fought hard until the end, even once they were down significantly, and that they should be proud of the progress they made this season.
“You know, old Perryville might have been like, ‘Oh, my God, just stick a fork in us,’ ” O’Keefe said. “You heard the guys on the bench. They kept fighting. The players in the field. They kept fighting. So this is the toughest thing about baseball. There’s only really one person that’s ever going to be happy in every class.
“Coaching this team, it was a great honor. They did things for this program and a lot of alumni that will tell you they’re very proud of the steps they took forward. There’s a rich history of players and we could never understand why we couldn’t get to that next step and knowing that we kind of broke through that is a damn good feeling.”
Perryville’s last district title came in 1983, meaning this season marked the Pirates’ first postseason run in 42 years. Perryville finished the season with a 56.5 percent winning percentage, a 5-5 home record and 4-4 on the road, while averaging 3.3 runs a game and giving up 3.9.
Perryville will start next season in the absence of seven seniors: Peeler, Hayden, Fritsche, Troy O’Keefe, Hunter Elder, Devin Clifton, and Eli Hemingway. Huber, who earned the complete-game shutout victory in the Class 4, District 2 championship against Ste. Genevieve on May 23 took the loss against Sullivan, giving up 9 runs, 8 earned, on 11 hits in 4 innings of work, striking out 2 and walking 1.
Reliever Evan Hayden finished out the game, giving up 2 earned runs on 2 hits in 2 innings, striking out 1 and walking 2.
Sullivan starter Lucas Parsons gave up 5 runs on 5 hits over 3 innings, striking out 4 and walking 2. Mahlon Foster finished out the game for the Eagles, holding Perryville to 1 hit in 4 innings, striking out 3 and walking 2.
At the plate for Perryville, Troy O’Keefe was 2-for-4 with 1 run scored, Huber was 1-for-2 with 2 RBI, Fritsche was 1-for-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored, Wheeler was 1-for-1 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored, and Peeler was 1-for-3 with 2 runs scored.
Sullivan finished with 13 hits, led by Drake Gawer, who finished 3-for-3 with 1 run scored. Redd finished 1-for-3 with 4 RBI and 1 run scored. Foster was 2-for-2 with 2 runs scored.
“Our MO has been pitching and defense this year,” O’Keefe said. “And then once we got behind, you go, ‘Okay. So how do we weather the storm?’ Try to cut down the momentum, and then through cutting down that momentum, how can we turn that momentum back into something positive for us?
“It was really tough. We just couldn’t stop the momentum. If I could have found a way that we stopped even two of those runs one of those innings, maybe we’re able to stretch that momentum back but — that’s baseball in seven innings. It’s really fast. Once you lose that momentum, you’ve got to try to figure it out quick.”
Reflecting on the season as a whole, O’Keefe said he felt his strategy worked well, especially in light of the challenges his team faced.
“I think this team went through things that a lot of people haven’t gone through,” O’Keefe said. “We’ve talked about the tornado. We talked about things that they had to go through that nobody else did. This team, when they came in today, they believed in themselves. Playing those 1-run games, they believed in themselves They could have easily felt sorry for themselves, you know,
‘Oh, my God, this play happened to this player.’ We could blame this official. We could blame this umpire, this moment. They didn’t. They actually understood what baseball and what life is, which is sometimes when you get punched in the mouth, you have one of two options. You can either lay there and play dead, or you get up and figure out a way to shake it off.
“I think that was probably our best lesson this year, is whatever’s happening, we’re going to get up, and we’re gonna shake it off.”
And now that the season is over, O’Keefe said he has a new plan. “I can tell you what we’re going to do,” O’Keefe.
“We’re gonna go home and we’re going to relax right now. We’ll worry about [next season] on another day. It’s time to appreciate how the season went. Reflect because they’re going to hurt for a little bit, and they’re going to take time. They’re gonna sit and they are going to realize, ‘You know what? We did do something special.’ And at that point, we’ll come back after they have a breath of fresh air and we’ll figure out what we have to go with from there.”
PERRYVILLE 1, FREDERICKTOWN 0
FREDERICKTOWN — Perryville senior starter Troy O’Keefe pitched a complete game on May 27, recording 21 outs and holding Fredericktown scoreless over 7 innings to lead the Pirates to a 1-0 victory over the Blackcats (17-10) in the Class 4 state baseball playoff sectional round.
Perryville defeated Fredericktown 1-0. Troy O’Keefe started the game for Perryville and recorded 21 outs, including 8 strikeouts.
Shortstop Waylon Huber was 1-for-3 with 1 RBI for Perryville, sending Dalton Fritsche home on a single to left field. Gideon Stueve and Fritsche collected two hits for Perryville.
Noah Brubacher and Ryan Souden had 1 hit apiece for Fredericktown.
