Why Ozarks high school baseball coaches, players think the area's having one of its best years ever

When Willard went to the state semifinals in 2012 and 2013, Tigers head coach Scott McGee felt like his teams were overwhelmed when they went up against the better teams in the state.

It was a level of baseball that the Tigers weren't used to seeing as they made their way through their southwest Missouri schedule.

"We couldn't even compete," McGee said.

Nearly a year removed from winning a state championship, Willard has noticed a rise in talent over recent years, and McGee said it was a big reason why his Tigers won it all for the first time in school history.

"We're right there with those guys now," McGee said. "We can beat a lot of them now because our area has gotten so much better."

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High school baseball in southwest Missouri is enjoying a remarkable season as it heads into the beginning of district play. There are more teams ranked in the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association polls than ever before with multiple teams ranked at or near the top of their individual classes.

A recent Class 5 poll had Ozarks schools Willard, Glendale, Camdenton and McDonald County ranked one through four. MaxPreps had Nixa ranked as one of the top 25 teams in the entire country, while Catholic has sat atop Class 3 rankings all season with Fair Grove, Hartville and Strafford not too far behind.

Logan-Rogersville and Aurora appear to be players for a Class 4 title, and state-ranked Kickapoo hopes to spoil Nixa's special season in district play. Marionville has a legitimate shot at repeating as state champs and there are plenty of other schools across the region that are capable of putting together great runs in the coming weeks.

"It's been great for southwest Missouri baseball," Kickapoo head coach Jason Howser said. "You have a lot of kids where it's important to them and it's important to them year-round. I think there are a lot of coaches who don't just have six-month programs but it's year-round."

Coaches and players for the various teams attribute the uptick in the area's success to how the game's turned into a 12-month sport for many instead of the typical spring and summer sport it once was — whether that's by training in the weight room or finding somewhere to throw and hit.

More resources have also gone into the game with the birth of numerous indoor facilities — most notably the Marucci Clubhouse Midwest facility which opened outside US Ballpark in Ozark in late 2019. Many of the top players in the area and those who come home from playing college ball use it frequently.

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"It's the diet, it's the agility and speed, it's the weight room, it's the hitting and the throwing year-round," Howser said. "I think you have to give all the credit to the athlete. It's not a 'this' or 'that' but it's the individual athlete who commits themselves to doing it."

Athletes on the different teams have numerous explanations for why the competition is up, but they all agree that the competitiveness between peers on opposing teams is a factor.

Most high school athletes in the area have some sort of connection with their opponents whether that's through playing summer ball with them or even through social media. 

After training together in the summer and then seeing their successes from afar during the spring, the athletes want to showcase their talents when they go head-to-head.

"I think, since an early age, we've always had that competitiveness," Kickapoo senior Noah Wilkinson said. "We get really hyped for games and not being with (summer teammates) during the spring makes it more competitive, just like 'hey, we want to beat you. We've been with you and now it's time to beat you.'

"I think that turns it into super competitive teams that want to win in this area and all of the area around us just how good we are and how good we've been."

A program like Willard is one that's had established success over the last decade with seven district titles, four semifinal appearances and a 2021 state championship to its name. 

Willard junior Klayton Kiser added that the Tigers have always put in the extra work, but he's seen players at other schools do it as well — which has made him and his teammates go a little bit harder.

Fellow junior Owen Bushnell said the Tigers have always done "the little things" that have made it perhaps the highest-regarded program in the area while constantly trying to get out and hit or take grounders.

"It's gotten a lot more competitive and it's pretty fun to see," Bushnell said. "To kind of be the top dog and to know that each team comes out and has a good chance to take our spot makes it pretty fun to be a part of this area."

In the weeks ahead, high school baseball teams across the state will be competing for their chances at winning state titles.

After the region kept two championship trophies in the area last season, there's a chance that even more will be kept in southwest Missouri after this season.

"There's a bunch of really good baseball talent in the area," McGee said. "I wouldn't be surprised if at least three win a championship this year across the six classes."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.