By Chris Parker
Ash Grove baseball had one goal entering Tuesday’s Class 2 state championship game against Salisbury: Perfection.
That goal was achieved in dominant fashion with a 13-3 five-inning run-rule victory to finish off a 25-0 season.
“We wanted to be remembered and we are going to be now,” Ash Grove junior Bryce Davis said. “When we enter the gym and see that board up there saying state champs, we will remember this day right here.”
The potent Ash Grove offense put two runners on in the bottom of the first but was scoreless to make it 0-0 after one inning.
That would be the last time Ash Grove failed to put a crooked number on the scoreboard. The Pirates scored three in the second, two in the third, five in the fourth and three in the fifth inning. Eight of the nine Ash Grove batters recorded a hit with all nine reaching base in the five-inning game.
The depth of the lineup was on display with No. 9 hitter Cooper Burks going 2-for-2 with a walk and a game-high three RBI. All three RBI came on a fourth-inning, bases-clearing double.
“I probably should have moved him (Burks) up in the lineup, but we were generating so many runs I didn’t want to touch anything. He has a lot of pop in his bat. Cooper Burks really came alive the past two games for sure,” Brown said. “One through nine, I wouldn’t want to be a pitcher throwing against us I can tell you that.”
Ash Grove entered the bottom of the fifth inning needing three runs to walk the game off. Wyatt Dennis and Brock Mooneyham both reached to start the inning. Davis brought both home with a two-run triple to right field putting the game-winning run 90 feet away. Tyler Tummons and Jon Rollhaus were intentionally walked to load the bases and bring No. 7 hitter Nate Trammell to the plate. He hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Davis and set off a raucous celebration.
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The win gave the Ash Grove baseball program its first state championship with the Pirates becoming the first Missouri high baseball school team to go unbeaten since Santa Fe went 20-0 in 2008 to win the Class 1 state championship. It makes Ash Grove just the 11th Missouri baseball program to complete an unbeaten season since 1953.
Entering the season, perfection was just something the Pirates jokingly talked about.
“At the beginning of the season we looked at our schedule and we (said) we could this whole season without losing a game, but we were just messing around. We do that every year,” Davis said. “Once we got to 15-0, we (thought) this could happen.”
The Pirates were dominance personified throughout the season, but especially so once the postseason rolled around. In the regular season, Ash Grove played one one-run game. In the postseason, the Pirates didn’t play a game closer than five runs scoring at least 10 runs in each game.
“(Perfect) means that we didn’t let any teams come up and bite us. It means that we didn’t make big enough mistakes to lose any games. We were solid the entire season, which is almost impossible to do in high school,” Ash Grove head coach Berrah Brown said.
The win means a lot for the program but also the town of Ash Grove which filled the stands behind the third base dugout at Sky Bacon Stadium in Ozark.
“It is very cool to coach in a town that I grew up in and to be a part of a faculty who I grew up around. Most of the teachers there helped raise me since I was a kid,” Brown said. “Seeing all my family and friends from Ash Grove here tonight just makes so much more special. It is more meaningful when you are from the town that you win it at.”
Among the crowd were many players who helped Ash Grove baseball finish runner-up in 1992.
“I bet most of the guys who were on that runner-up team are in the crowd right now cheering us on,” Brown said. “I can’t put into words how important it is that this community came out to support us like they did.”
The Pirates showed their appreciation for the town’s support by taking a lap through the crowd to hug and celebrate with their loved ones and a town that fully embraced the program.
“I couldn’t stop crying seeing everybody I love up there giving them hugs. They love us to death, and they all come out and support us,” Davis said.
“The whole town came out and supported us. Their love for this team is amazing,” Mooneyham said.
Seniors were at the center of Ash Grove’s success this year with eight on the roster and seven in the starting lineup. Their focus and leadership throughout the season will leave a lasting mark on the Ash Grove baseball program.
“I would love to say that it is all coaching, but that is a complete lie. It is completely their mental toughness. Being out of school for two weeks and being able to come into practice and focus when they need to. It is all them. They are just a special group of guys,” Brown said. “I am so fortunate to have this group of guys because most coaches coach their entire career in search of this win here and I was able to get it within my first four years of coaching.”
