With Tigers the nickname of seemingly every other school in SWMO, it surely would be refreshing for Ozark to adopt a singular moniker. On Wednesday, the Tigers might as well had been the Baers.
The energy and intensity from pitcher Luke Baer rubbed off on his teammates in most favorable fashion, as Ozark staged a sixth-inning comeback, resulting in a 2-1 Class 6 District 6 opening-round victory versus defending District champ Joplin.
As early as warmups, Baer’s teammates knew not to poke their Baer.
“We could tell in pre-game he was locked in,” first baseman Stanley Brice said. “He had his headphones on and was doing his own thing. He had fire in his eyes.”
Baer essentially was still in his own world when he took the mound. After finishing what he started by recording his fourth complete game on the season, the senior right-hander related his peak concentration level carried him through outs 1-21.
“There was a lot of adrenaline. I had so much adrenaline built up,” Baer said. “That was the most intense atmosphere I’ve ever pitched in. It was hard for me to hear anything. I didn’t pay attention to the crowd. I kind of blocked everything out and was zoned in on my catcher.
“After that last strikeout, I could hear the crowd erupt,” he added. “It was a crazy atmosphere.”
Baer engaged in a classic pitchers duel with a future teammate. He and Joplin ace Brecken Green have signed with Pitt State.
"I’ve gotten to know him better after my commitment to Pitt State,” Baer said. “He reached out and we started talking. He's always been super supportive. He's a great dude and a great friend, someone I’m glad I'm going to be around for the next four years.”
It wasn’t a surprise Baer and Green dominated hitters.
“With the caliber of pitcher he is, we knew we were going to have to battle,” Baer said.
Baer and Green both were throwing a shutout through five innings. At that juncture Ozark had just two hits and Joplin only one.
Joplin put two hits together to plate a run in the sixth with one hit occurring on a controversial no-call for runners interference. An Eagles baserunner slid into Ozark second baseman Logan Kirkland as he tried to field the ball.
Most telling of the inning, the Eagles stranded the bases loaded.
Baer was in control all game and able to keep the Eagles from settling into any sort of rhythm at-bat, thanks to his slider.
“What was working best for me was my slider,” he said. “I was able to throw it behind in counts, not just as a strikeout pitch. It was a key part of my game today.”
Midway through the game, he enjoyed back-to-back innings without having to throwing more than 10 pitches.
“That helped a ton,” Baer said of keeping his pitch count low. “When you have a great defense behind you, you can say to yourself, ‘I can attack these guys, I don’t have to strike everyone out.’
“All season I’ve been able to keep my pitch count relatively low,” he added.
Ozark answered in its half of the sixth by scoring both of its runs. The uprising included a one-out walk to Rylan Sutton, Baer being hit by a pitch, an RBI-double off the top of the left-center field wall by Brice to score Sutton and a sacrifice fly RBI by Jared Dalton to score Baer.
Ozark won with only three hits.
Brice, who also rifled a double down the left-field line in the second, hit Green harder than probably anyone has all season.
“I was getting deep in counts, making him pitch to me and getting my pitch to hit,” Brice said. “I was able to fight and keep getting a fastball. It looked like I was looking at beach balls at the plate. Everything looked so easy to me.”
Stepping to the plate with a sense of urgency to capitalize and give Ozark the lead, Dalton followed with a fly ball to score the eventual winning run.
“It was a big ‘Get him in’ moment, one that we knew could decide the game because we knew Luke was going to close it out in the seventh,” Dalton said. “My job was to get that run in. I was going to do everything I could to make that happen.”
Dalton didn’t necessarily allow himself to try to hit the ball in the air.
“It was the same approach. I tried to get a good swing on the ball and get good contact,” he said.
Dalton delivered with his teammates chanting his initials, ‘JD,” as he batted.
“It’s great to have all the guys behind me. You could feel them believing in me,” Dalton said. “Everyone has the whole team behind them.”
Ozark’s camaraderie all season has been off the charts, with Baer’s leadership being one of the reasons why.
“He’s very passionate and emotional,” Dalton said. “It’s very contagious. It rubs off on the guys in a great way. He gets us going.””
In the seventh, Joplin had a lead-off single and the baserunner reached third base with two outs. But Baer’s killer instinct and will to win never wavered. He closed the game with a punch-out and then celebrated like a wide receiver in the end zone by spiking his glove onto the turf.
“That was spontaneous,” Baer said. “It was a reflection of my emotions. The past two years, we had disappointing (District) losses in the first round. I wanted to come out today and make a statement.”
— Ozark’s last post-season win also came against Joplin in 2023.
— Joplin (19-13) was 6-5 in one-run games. Ozark is 4-2 in one-run games.
— Ozark is 17-3 over its last 20 games.
— Ozark (24-9) will meet No. 8 seed Republic (11-22) in a semifinal at 4 p.m. Thursday. Repmo knocked off No. 1 seed Glendale 3-2 in eight innings Wednesday.
— Republic beat Ozark 8-1 in the teams’ regular-season meeting. Pitcher Caden O’Donnell shut out Repmo through the first five innings.
— Junior infielder Zayden Danielson transferred from Ozark to Republic.
— Ozark has not advanced to a District final since 2017.
