While most high school athletes are taking a break during this week’s MSHSAA-mandated “dead week” period, the Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Seniors are enjoying an extended summer season.
Despite second-place finishes in both the Zone 1 Tournament and the Missouri AAA State Tournament, the Post 5 Seniors will be playing this week in the Mid-South Regional Tournament at Bobby Hayes Stadium in Pelham, Ala.
“We’re ready to just go represent the area,” Post 5 Seniors coach Curt Vaughan said. “That’s been our main thing all summer, to just try and play the right brand of baseball.”
Jefferson City -- which finished runner-up at last week’s state tournament and will be taking Oklahoma’s spot in the regional -- will open the five-day, eight-team tournament today against Arkansas state champion Fort Smith Post 31. First pitch is at 10 a.m.
In order to reach the regional tournament, Jefferson City had to win back-to-back elimination games against Festus Post 253 and Washington Post 218 in the state tournament. Those one-win wins -- 5-4 against Festus and 1-0 against Washington -- ended the Post 5 Seniors’ only losing streak of the summer.
“Whenever you lose, it seems like you could learn a little more,” Vaughan said. “I don’t know if that’s always the case, but it seems like with this age of guys, when you lose a game, you take the lessons a little more to heart.
“I think our guys did that in back-to-back weeks. We were playing for our lives a few times this last week, and they responded in four straight games.”
Last week’s state tournament featured the past four Missouri state champions. Jefferson City won in 2018, Festus won in 2019 and advanced to the American Legion World Series, Washington took first in 2021 and St. Joseph Post 11 defeated Jefferson City twice to win last week’s state tournament.
“This tournament was loaded, in my opinion,” Vaughan said. “I’ve been with Legion as a player and as a coach for about 15 years. I would say this was about top three, if not higher, of just pure competition. I think any team could have won it.”
Jefferson City (24-5-1) only lost one game in the regular season, a 5-4 defeat to Paragould (Ark.) Post 17 in the semifinals of the American Pride & Freedom Legion Tournament in Murray, Ky.
Fort Smith (23-16-1) won six consecutive elimination games to claim the Arkansas state title, beating Paragould 6-4 in the championship game and 8-7 in the “if necessary” game.
“These guys are going to be able to play,” Vaughan said of Fort Smith.
Ben Brooks, who was named the Arkansas state tournament MVP, batted .320 (8-for-25) with six RBI, three doubles and a walk-off hit during the tournament. He was also the winning pitcher in two games.
Steffan Fak, the tournament’s Outstanding Pitcher, struck out seven and walked two in 6⅔ innings of the championship game for Fort Smith.
“It’s going to be a tight game,” Vaughan said. “That’s why we’ve got to fix the bunt situations, the pickoffs, all the stuff we worked on. The 90 feet (between bases) are very important at this point. Whoever can take the most 90s and give up the least, it seems like you’re going to come out ahead.”
Jefferson City will start Max Buscher on the mound for today’s game. In six games, Buscher has a 5-0 record with a 2.04 ERA and 22 strikeouts in a team-high 37⅔ innings pitched.
Buscher pitched a complete game in the win against Festus, his fourth complete game of the summer.
“We like Max going No. 1, we’ve done it all year,” Vaughan said. “We feel like we know what we’re going to get out of Max, he competes very well. His stuff is good enough against any team to keep us in a game, which is all you want in a Game 1.”
In Thursday’s second game against either St. Joseph (22-7) or Troy (Ala.) Post 70 (24-4), the Post 5 Seniors could start either Chase Schnieders (8-1, 1.94 ERA) or Jaden Kolb (2-0, 2.45 ERA) on the mound. If Schnieders doesn’t start, he could be asked to close either game.
Jefferson City used eight pitchers in the state tournament, with Holden Brand, Hunter Berendzen and Trevor Jordan throwing in relief.
“We have three arms that we’re very comfortable with coming out of the bullpen,” Vaughan said. “They’ve been successful in every situation.”
Calen Kruger led Jefferson City’s offense in the state tournament, batting .375 with six runs scored and four stolen bases. This summer, he is third on the team with a .392 average, adding 28 runs scored and 26 RBI.
“He gives you some pop up at that No. 1 spot,” Vaughan said, “but his baserunning has been very, very underrated. He’s 17-for-17 on stolen bases, and I don’t know if I’ve given him two steals signs this year.”
Blake Gentges, who leads the Post 5 Seniors with a .464 average, will not be available to play in the regional. Gentges had surgery last week on a finger he injured during the Zone 1 Tournament in Washington.
“He was our consistent guy,” Vaughan said. “When it felt like we were pressing at times, Blake never did. … He never struck out, so he was forcing you to make plays.”
Jefferson City’s first three hitters in the lineup -- Kruger, Nick Jeffries and Kolb -- are all batting .377 or higher with at least 16 RBI and 24 runs scored.
“When we get up there and swing at pitches in the zone, we have a good lineup that can put up runs,” Vaughan said.
Missouri has had recent success in the Mid-South Regional. In addition to Festus winning the tournament in 2019, Washington took third place last season.
“We pride ourselves on just being winners,” Vaughan said. “We want to try to win every tournament every week that we show up. We expect to play a meaningful last game. And we plan on trying to win it.”
Notes: Missouri is one of seven states to send two teams to a Legion regional tournament, excluding the regional host teams. The other six states sending two teams to regionals are Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Oklahoma is the only state not being represented at a regional tournament this week. … Other teams playing in the Mid-South Regional are Pittsburg (Kan.) Post 64 (16-10-1), Gonzales (La.) Post 81 (10-7-1), Tupelo (Miss.) Post 49 (32-1) and host team Shelby County (Ala.) Post 555 (10-7-1). Vaughan said Tupelo -- which won the American Pride & Freedom Legion Tournament -- will be a favorite to win the regional. … The winner of the Mid-South Regional will advance to the American Legion World Series, which is Aug. 11-16 in Shelby, N.C.