By Chris Parker
Belief is an important thing in all facets of life.
For the Miller baseball team, belief in their ability to win a state title didn’t come right away when Justin Snider took over as head coach three years ago.
“If you came in our sophomore year and said we will win a state title by our senior year, nobody would have believed it,” Miller senior Jarod Lung said.
Even in January when Snider showed his seniors a rendering of a state championship ring, that belief in the ability to win a state title still wasn’t fully manifested.
“I didn’t believe him,” Lung said. “The first meeting he put a state ring up and said ‘if you do whatever I tell you, you will win one’.”
The belief grew throughout the season until Tuesday when belief became fact.
The Miller Cardinals are the Class 2 State Champions after beating Eugene 7-1 behind a complete-game two-hitter from sophomore Hayden Schnake.
It is the first state title in program history.
“This means everything for all of us. All year we have come in and put in a lot of. We wanted this. We didn’t want anything else,” Schnake said. “We didn’t expect anything less. We had the team. We expect to come back next year and do the same thing.”
After beating Chaffee in the state semifinal yesterday, Miller came in to the championship with a simple gameplan.
Change nothing.
“I had a coach tell me don’t change who you are when you get to the final four 15 years ago. The same coach said the same thing yesterday; don’t change who you are,” Snider said. “That is just who we are. We are going to scrap runs. We are going to do some crazy stuff. We are going to force you to play defense. We are going to make you uncomfortable. We call it chaos baseball. We want to make you uncomfortable.”
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In the bottom of the first inning, chaos was on full display.
Lung was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. He advanced to second on a pass ball and third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Lung stole home to put up the game’s first run.
“It is always important to get the first run,” Lung said. “With a young sophomore pitcher on the mound, when we scored, he had a lot of confidence going into the next inning.”
After Eugene pushed an unearned run across in the top of the second, Miller answered with a four-run bottom of the frame. That included more chaos with Miller scoring two runs on a bunt and all four runs without an extra-base hit.
“We were very disciplined like we have been all year. Every week we work on the little things that help us win ball games like this,” Schnake said. “Stealing home. Nobody really expects that. We just practice things all year and it helps us out in the end.”
From there, Schnake was on cruise control facing just one over the minimum over the final five innings to secure the state championship. He finished with five strikeouts.
Schnake’s performance was one that he has built to over months of hard work
“Hayden threw probably the game of his life today,” Snider said. “It is probably the biggest game he has probably thrown in his entire life. I could not be happier for him and Jase. They push each other. I teamed them up to play catch all year. Both of their velocities and endurance have gone up. They asked for keys to the weight room. They want to get to 190 pounds next year. They are not satisfied. That is probably the best part about what is going on right now here is we just won a state championship, and I bet half the kids are in the weight room tomorrow. They want more. It is just a complete 180 of culture from a few years ago.”
While the sophomore pitching duo of Schnake and Jase Wilkinson get a lot of headlines, a senior class of six players, led by Lung, have been instrumental in building a new culture at Miller.
“When I took the job and other coaches talked to me about what we had, they talked about the sophomore class which is the senior class now. They needed to be polished. They needed to be pushed,” Snider said. “They were great in year one. Last year we couldn’t finish games. We were so young on the mound we just couldn’t finish. This year, it has been the complete opposite. The changing of the role from Jarod (Lung) to go from our No. 1 starter to closer takes someone that is unbelievably unselfish and commits to whatever it takes to (play) winning baseball. Jarod is just that guy. I gave him a big hug after the game because he is the glue. I know everybody talks about the sophomores, but the seniors have been awesome. Their attitude and work ethic has been great. They (are) accepting of any role that comes upon them.”
For Lung and the seniors, Tuesday’s title was the culmination of years of work together on baseball fields all over the Ozarks and beyond.
“There have been a lot of rough seasons that we have been through,” Lung said. “A lot of rec league ball games that we have been through since we were 10 years old. Nobody thought a state championship was possible. Now we have done it with six of our closest friends. It is a great feeling.”
After the game, the players crept up the steps with a cooler full of ice water looking for Snider. Snider saw them, but instead of running away from the celebratory bath, he embraced it.
“That is the best (ice bath) I can get right there. I don’t care how cold it was. I don’t care if it was two degrees outside, I will take that one all day,” Snider said.
Miller finishes the season with a 25-5 record overall.
