Glendale ace Drew Wedgeworth, grandson of Bill Rowe, commits to Missouri State baseball

Drew Wedgeworth sat 10 rows behind the Missouri State dugout with a big Bears hat almost covering his eyes as he studied each pitch. In 2015, unlike most kids his age, the 10-year-old watched the game trying to think like the pitcher on the mound.

As Matt Hall, the then-NCAA strikeout leader, mowed down each Arkansas batter during the Fayetteville Super Regional, the young baseball fan elbowed his grandfather after each pitch asking why he decided to throw a fastball here or a curveball there. As his grandfather did, from seemingly the time Wedgeworth was born, he'd explain each pitch and the process behind every decision.

Throwing strikes was the most important thing to a pitcher, his grandfather believes. Having the control to throw strikes came first and then came the different decisions to keep the batter off-balance. Don't throw a curveball after throwing a fastball to get the count to 0-2 because the batter's probably sitting on it and looking for something to poke. Throw the changeup instead because the batter will likely swing over it.

Pitch by pitch, Wedgeworth studied Hall deliver a one-hit complete-game gem in one of the greatest single performances in Missouri State athletics history. His grandfather, Bill Rowe, the legendary former Missouri State athletics director and baseball coach, watched his grandson pour his heart into the program he helped build.

Nine years later, as the two continued to watch and talk shop sitting side-by-side at MSU games, Wedgeworth recently told his grandpa that he'll wear a Missouri State baseball uniform next season and play for the Bears. It's something Rowe never pushed his former understudies in the MSU clubhouse for but it's what he knew in his heart that his grandson was capable of.

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"I've just always felt like that it's a great place to be," Wedgeworth said. "I don't really want to go anywhere else. This place feels like home and it is home."

Wedgeworth, Glendale's senior ace, will continue the tradition of a Rowe or a Guttin being in the Missouri State dugout each year since it was founded by Rowe in 1964. Legendary head coach Keith Guttin will retire at the end of the 2024 season, but Drew Rowe Wedgeworth will find his way into the dugout after committing to associate head coach and former MSU player Joey Hawkins, who will likely be named MSU's third-ever skipper at the end of the season. Wedgeworth grew up idolizing the former Bears shortstop and pitching coach Nick Petree.

Wedgeworth has grown into a Division I caliber pitcher through relentless work whether it be the countless two-a-days he's spent throwing or batting in the Bill Rowe Training Facility just outside the right field fence at Hammons Field or when he's taken lessons from the hurlers of Missouri State's past whether that be by working with Sam Perez or watching pitchers like Hall or Clay Murphy.

He's gone from the little kid who followed his grandfather onto the field after Bears wins only to be picked up in celebration by Perez or Jake Burger to a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder who isn't going to overpower a batter with his fastball but will put them in positions where they're off-balance and will put the ball in play for the defense behind him.

More: Source: Legendary Missouri State baseball coach Keith Guttin to retire after 2024 season

"I knew he could be a pitcher since I realized he was left-handed," Rowe said. "The ball always breaks when you throw left-handed."

Results have followed Wedgeworth, or who some have called "Lil Bill," throughout the last two seasons at Glendale where he turned into a Class 5 Second Team All-State selection a year ago and is bound for more recognition once this season concludes. He was the only pitcher to shut out Class 6 state champion Liberty North during the 2023 season and he later threw a no-hitter against then-Class 5 No. 3 Willard in a district championship game.

Wedgeworth has been tasked with the toughest teams on Glendale's schedule this season and currently has a 1.95 ERA in 46.2 innings with 36 strikeouts and an opposition batting average of .243. He recently threw a complete game shutout against Class 6 No. 2 Francis Howell and allowed just five hits to a lineup with multiple Division I prospects.

After every standout pitching performance, Wedgeworth walks off the field and finds his grandfather, who usually fights back prideful tears when they embrace. The two have been best friends often attending sporting events and finding themselves in postgame Missouri State football and basketball press conferences. Wedgeworth has attended College World Series events in Omaha, Nebraska for as long as he can remember. The two are seemingly connected at the hip.

Previously: 40 years of Keith Guttin — untold tales of the legendary Missouri State baseball coach

Wedgeworth can already imagine what it'll be like when he takes the mound for the first time wearing the Bears uniform he was born to wear. It'll be the moment he's always dreamt of while his grandfather will be in the stands struggling to keep it together.

"He knows how weak I am and it's going to affect me big," Rowe said. "It will be because of knowing all the years that I got to spend with him, to see what he's done and he's trying to do it the right way. It'll be just a thing that I think is well-deserved by the time that gets here. It'll all flood in on me and our family."

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 X at @WyattWheeler_NL .

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Glendale ace Drew Wedgeworth, grandson of Bill Rowe, commits to Missouri State baseball