The Jefferson City Post 5 Seniors are all in favor of second chances.
They finished runner-up in the American Legion Zone 1 Tournament, yet still received an invitation to the Missouri state tournament. Jefferson City then went 3-0 at Sedalia for a second straight state championship.
Now it's on to the Mid-South Regional, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament that begins today in New Orleans. Post 5 is wanting another second chance to show it can do better than its 1-2 record last year at regionals.
"The roster that we made up, what we envisioned, we got to see that in Sedalia," Post 5 coach Curt Vaughan said. " I'm excited to go down there and see if we can rattle off a few wins."
After struggling in the zone tournament, Jefferson City cruised through the state bracket, outscoring opponents 24-7.
Hayden Hirschvogel collected five hits in the team's last two games, while Drew Bax homered in a 9-3 win in the title game.
"With summer ball, it's hard to get in a rhythm," Vaughan said. "You're doing summer stuff, you're working a job, you're not going to school and practicing every day like you do in high school. It is an adjustment period, and usually you do start slow.
"I was hoping it would come together a little more at zone, but I knew that we could do it, because you saw flashes of it throughout the whole summer and in high school ball. I was trying to preach the 'every day, every AB' approach, and I think that started clicking at state."
Starting pitching also came through for Jefferson City, which got strong performances on the mound from Skyler Dickneite, Joseph Travis and Connor McKenna.
Post 5 also has a loaded bullpen, with players like Jason Rackers, Ryan Paschal, Gage Bax and Josef Keilholz ready to pitch.
"We have plenty of options," Vaughan said. "I don't know what other teams have, but I feel very confident with the guys that we have."
Just as he did at zone and at state, Vaughan plans to start Dickneite on the mound today for Post 5's opener against the regional host, New Orleans Post 285. First pitch is scheduled around 7 p.m. after the opening ceremony.
New Orleans (22-7-1) is making its fourth appearance at the Mid-South Regional in the past five years. Although Post 285 went 0-2 in last year's regional, it finished runner-up at the American Legion World Series in 2015.
"When you're hosting a regional like this, you're hosting it for a reason," Vaughan said of New Orleans, which finished runner-up at this year's Louisiana state tournament. "You like baseball, you have a good program. We're definitely not looking past them. They definitely have a good team."
Jefferson City (24-9) is one of four teams returning from last year's regional. In addition to New Orleans, both Bryant (Ark.) Post 298 and Columbia (Tenn.) Post 19 are back as well.
"They're a very well-known team," Vaughan said of Bryant, which won last year's regional and finished runner-up at the World Series. "They're very good, fast on the bases, fundamental defense. They're definitely going to be one of the teams we want to go down there with our eye on."
Vaughan said Post 5 traveled Tuesday to New Orleans with 16 players, including seven who played in last year's regional.
"Those guys know what the experience is like," Vaughan said.
Also in the regional are Salina (Kan.) Post 62, Gonazles (La.) Post 81 and Tupelo (Miss.) Post 49.
Cape Girardeau Post 63, which lost to Jefferson City in the state championship game, learned Friday it would be invited to the regional. Ada Post 72, the Oklahoma state champion, could only bring eight of its 18 players to the regional, so Cape Girardeau took Ada's place, giving Missouri two teams in the field.
"It's a chance for us to go represent Missouri and show that we deserve to have two teams down here," Vaughan said. "I have all the confidence in the world of that team, that they could go down there and win this thing too."
Win or lose, Jefferson City will play either Salina or Bryant on Thursday.
The regional tournament wraps up Sunday. The champion advances to the World Series, which begins Aug. 16 in Shelby, N.C.
"It's another week of summer baseball in a good city with a good group of guys, and we're really just looking forward to go down there, have fun and play good baseball," Vaughan said.