–Jeff

This time it’s baseball, the location is Willard and the favorite is Republic. So how can the Tigers secure their second district title in two years and avenge the boys basketball team’s loss to the Pirates in late February? Find out after the jump

For coach Howard Quigley’s squad the key is going to be keep doing what you’ve been doing. Republic is on a tear this season, with just four losses – all to teams that are state-ranked, a class higher or both. Their defense has committed just one error in 12 innings of district play, a miscue that didn’t lead to a run. The pitching has surrendered just one hit and no runs. The offense, while shaky against Aurora, exploded against Willard and has continued to show the 1-through-9 depth that will make them hard to beat.

The one-day delay for this game has given RHS starter Tyler King another day to rest, so he’ll be able to go full-bore today. Josh Stevens, Brock Robbins and Chad Beal – all pitchers during the regular season – haven’t had to work a district game, so they’re available if needed. I’m not exactly sure of the rules, but since Mitch McHenry threw just five innings Tuesday, he might have another inning or two to give in an emergency situation (it would have to be severe, though).

None of this is to degrade Branson. Coach Steve Lael and his staff have put another quality team together. Good pitching, good hitting, good fielding – a typical, steady squad that is built to win games late in the year. They pulled a nice upset in the first round when they toppled No. 3 Monett, then did exactly what they needed to do against Reeds Spring to advance to the finals. So how can the Pirates win?

They’ll need to keep the bats going. They lost a 4-0 decision to Republic in Central Ozark Conference play (with King on the mound for the Tigers) and will likely need 5 runs or more today to get the win. Their bats have been hot, with Levi Casey going 5-for-9 in Districts and catcher Jordan Storm has been knocking the cover off the ball. Storm had four hits and five RBI in Branson’s 9-6 win over Monett and blasted a two-run homer to help the Pirates past Reeds Spring 9-3.

In all Branson is averaging nearly 8 runs per game this month, so, yeah, they’ve got the bats to do it. They will need to have another big day against a very salty RHS pitching staff.

Branson, by the way, will counter with Mike Compton.

If this game needed any more flavor, the Tigers have some extra motivation. Many in Republic were displeased with an article that ran in the Branson Daily News after RHS’ 4-0 win a couple of weeks ago. That piece – which can be found here - painted the Republic players and community in a negative light. If I had to guess, this thing has been printed out, blown up and hung up on a bulletin board somewhere.

Just something to keep in mind as you’re out at the yard today.

Speaking of which, we’re off in a few minutes. Check back to www.republicmonews.com this afternoon for a game story and, of course, return to the blog for insight, analysis and nonsense later today.

–Jeff

Why? Find out after the jump…

First of all, nobody wants something as important as a district title to be decided on a wet, soggy field. Neither team would be at their best and it would certainly hinder the quality of play.

Second of all, I think both coaching staffs are happy to have an extra day’s rest for their pitching staffs. Republic will be throwing sophomore lefty Tyler King, who threw a one-hit shutout of Aurora on Monday. RHS coach Howard Quigley doesn’t like to bring pitchers back on three days rest, but he felt like King was capapble. They tried it earlier this season, a test run for the young southpaw, and he passed with flying colors. Quigley called it his best outing of the season.

Branson, too, would probably like to see their likely starter, Mike Compton, get an extra day to heal.

So now that the game’s pushed back a day, I’ve got extra time to analyze this one and give you some story lines to look for. We’ll try to get that posted by 9 a.m. Friday so you’ll have some early-morning reading before you head out to Willard for the game.

In the meantime, head on over to the Joplin Globe’s Web site for a story on the likely playoff foe for the Republic-Branson winner. I probably don’t even have to tell you who the final two are in District 10. Need a hint? They rhyme with Cebb Wity and Jarl Cunction.

There is still baseball being played in the area, believe it or not. The Nixa-Kickapoo clash in the Class 4 District 12 title match between top seed Kickapoo and No. 3 Nixa, over at Kickapoo, is still on, just pushed back to 6 p.m.

–Jeff

The top seed employs four sophomores regularly and entered the year without its ace. The defending champ is third. The only state-ranked team in the bunch is seeded second and the two most traditional powers in the field? Well, they’re Nos. 5 and 6.

Who are those teams? Find out after the jump.

Republic is seeded first on the strength of an unbeaten run through the field. They take on Aurora in less than 90 minutes out at Willard. The Tigers are a good bet to win it all, though not a lock.

That’s because No. 2 Cassville is No. 9 in the latest state poll. The Wildcats have accumulated a good record this season and their 11-1 loss to Republic recently is certainly – and I want to make this absolutely clear – no indication of good they are. Cassville plays No. 7 Reeds Spring at 5 p.m. today.

Among the quality wins the Wildcats have picked up this year is a 4-3 win over Carl Junction. CJ is ranked 8th and beat Republic in the Tigers’ season opener. What Republic got last week from Cassville was far from their best shot. If those two were to meet in the title game, it would bear no resemblance to their first meeting.

Monett is third and – should they survive their game with No. 6 Branson at 7:30 p.m. tonight - would give Cassville a stiff challenge. The Cubs, in fact, own a victory over the ‘Cats this season, 9-8 back on March 25. But Branson will be a salty first-round test for Monett.

The Pirates, though down a bit this season, are traditionally strong, fundamentally sound and have good pitching. Branson can make one claim nobody else in the state can so far – They beat the Forsyth Panthers this season.

Bolivar and Willard play the other first round game today at 2:30 – right after the Republic-Aurora matchup. The Tigers will look to get a boost from standout senior Tyler Hartley and make full use of home field advantage to upset the Liberators and get a shot at No. 1 Republic.

This is a pretty good district, from top to bottom. I think any of the top six seeds are more than capable of winning. Thought Republic is the top seed and went unbeaten against these teams, they are not a lock. They must continue to hit the ball well and limit errors in the field if they hope to advance to the playoffs.

Keep an eye on the skies today. They will be blue and sunny and it might be the last time you see that for a few days. Forecasts call for severe weather to return tomorrow and rain is possible from Tuesday through Thursday. The biggest challenge for all involved might be getting the games in.

We’re now 70 minutes from first pitch. Hope to see you at the game. If you can’t make it, keep an eye on www.republicmonews.com for a game story and stay tuned to Tiger Blog for analysis and commentary.

–Jeff

No. Barry Hinson was not at Republic High School yesterday.

That rumor has been making the rounds in the past couple of days and RHS activities director Greg Garton confirmed Friday afternoon that there’s no truth to it. He will not be coaching the team or cooking lunches or anything like that.

What is true is that the search is progressing and Garton hopes to have a candidate selected by the end of next week. One source – a reliable one at that – has given us the names of two finalists and either one would do a great job for the Tigers, who are looking for a coach after Denny McHenry resigned late last week.

We’re not at liberty to release those names, but we will say they will be familiar to basketball fans in southwest Missouri. Yeah, really narrows it down, doesn’t it?

Enjoy the rest of your Friday, and your weekend. We’ll check in before Monday’s Class 3 District 11 Tournament with our thoughts on that field, where Republic is the top seed. Also coming Monday, State Golf at Rivercut. Can Knierim make all-state two years in a row?

–Jeff

That group is made up of Aurora, Bolivar, Branson, Cassville, Monett, Reeds Spring, Republic and Willard. Republic has played three of those teams so far and beaten them all. A win over Branson Thursday (weather permitting) would send coach Howard Quigley into the district seeding meeting with quite the hammer.

“I told the kids there’s nothing like going into a district meeting and saying ‘We’ve played everybody here and beaten everybody here,’ then sitting down.”

And the Tigers have beaten those teams in style: A run-rule win over Reeds Spring, a convincing victory over Willard and a come-from-behind triumph at Bolivar. Republic should face Branson, Monett and Aurora in the next five days. Cassville will take part in the Republic Classic May 5-7.

Districts begin the week of May 12, at Willard, so its likely any Republic-Cassville result will not be reflected in the seeding meeting, but a 6-0 record against the field makes them a lock for the top seed. I say it sounded improbable because here, in Republic, is a team that plays four sophomores on a regular basis and didn’t return a regular varsity starting pitcher from a year ago.

So what’s happened? The line-up, from 1 to 9, has been blistering the ball, exceeding the expectations of Quigley. He said that even though players have had their cold spells, there are no easy outs anywhere. The defense has been serviceable – not flawless – and that’s made things easier on the pitchers. Tyler King continues to blossom into a top starter, Josh Stevens has been a great innings-eater, Brock Robbins brings a bulldog mentality to the mound, and even Mitch McHenry has spent some time on the hill – a bonus, considering he wasn’t expected to pitch this season.

This is the least likely of the last three Republic teams to win the District 11 title and here they are in late April, on the verge of securing the top seed. Baseball’s a crazy game, no?

–Jeff

“I got in trouble for saying some words down the first base line, so I was pressing,” he said. “I was pressing, but I got lucky I guess. I got a good pitch. Hopefully I can start a good hitting streak.” 

Wait a minute. Lucky? That raised our eyebrows. What a strange way to describe a two-run home run that put the finishing touches on the Tigers 5-1 win at Hillcrest last Tuesday.  McCrary, after all, is a pretty accomplished hitter. He flashed good power to the gaps a year ago, so it wasn’t too surprising to see him go yard down the line. But McCrary has enough baseball saavy to recognize the good fortune that helped him snap an 0-for-6 slump to open the season.

Read more after the jump…

McCrary did his part and worked ahead of the Hillcrest pitcher, 3 balls and 0 strikes. That count will usually require a hitter to take a pitch and, hopefully, walk. If it’s a strike, after all, the pitcher still has to be careful.

But, for some reason, Republic coach Howard Quigley decided to go ahead and give McCrary the green light to swing away.  The other stroke of luck came immediately, in part due to McCrary’s own awareness of what was going on around him. 

“Being 0-for-6, I thought ‘I’m going to walk,’” McCrary said. “But the second baseman gave away the sign. He said ‘Fastball’ and I was like, ‘Oh, sweet!’ I got lucky.” 

The lucky break appears to have helped McCrary get out of the brief slump. He had two hits in Republic’s 12-2 win over Springfield Catholic last Friday night. The Tigers are back in action Thursday – weather permitting – when they travel to Central Ozark Conference foe Ozark. 

After an unusually rough winter, things are finally starting to thaw out and Tiger Blog hit the diamond for the first time this week, taking in Republic’s win at Hillcrest Tuesday afternoon. It was glorious.

College baseball is well underway, too, and the professionals – both major and minor – are getting ready to take the field. Some folks in southwest Missouri will have the opportunity to see both this weekend at Hammons Field in Springfield, when the Double-A Springfield Cardinals host the Major League St. Louis Cardinals.

We’ve been geeked about this one for weeks now and dying to see who breaks camp with the S-Birds. So Tiger Blog did the only sensible thing and got in touch with Springfield play-by-play voice Mike Lindskog for the scoop on who to keep an eye on at Hammons Field this summer.

Bryan Anderson will be one of th emost recognizable names as the Cardinals chase back-to-back Texas League North Division titles. He was all of 20 years old last season when he led the team with a .297 average and was named a Texas League All-Star.

“(Anderson) will be back again to continue to improve on defense beore making the leap to Triple-A,” Lindskog said.

Pitcher PJ Walters should be back as well. He made eight regular season starts for Springfield and was named St. Louis’ Minor Leaue Pitcher of the Year.

The Cardinals should have some pop coming from the corner infield spots, with Mark Hamilton likely to return at first and Allen Craig at the hot corner.

“Both were here last season and are ranked among the top prospects within the St. Louis minor league system,” said Lindskog. “They both hit for power and should be fun to watch.”

As for up-and-comers? Keep an eye on the mound. Adam Ottavino and Clayton Mortensen are right-handed starters who bring high expectations with them to Double-A.

“They’ve both had great Springs, spending time with the big league club in their camp before reporting to Minor League Camp,” said Lindskog. “They’ll both be in the rotation.”

Friday’s exhibition opener got some added star power this week when the club announced that American Idol finalist Asia’h Epperson, a Joplin native, will sing the National Anthem.

“This is gonna’ be good,” Epperson said in a club press release. “The chance to perform live in front of the community…yeah…I’m real excited!”

So are a lot of people in southwest Missouri. Anybody out there lucky enough to have their ticket for this weekend?

–Jeff

More required reading for today comes from the venerable Pat Dailey at the Branson Daily News. He’s got a recap of the Branson Pirates’ win over Reeds Spring,  as well as a look at Tate Unruh’s 3-point shooting effort against the Wolves.

More thoughts on this one after the jump…

Unruh is a wildcard in tonight’s game. He is a dead-eye shooter who set a new 3-point shooting record at the Blue and Gold Tournament this year. He’s also a bit on the diminutive side, listed at 6-foot even in the tourney program. He needs help getting his shot off and Republic gave him no space in their meeting last week. The result was an 8-point outing for Unruh.

But you do so at the risk of letting another Pirate hurt you. That Pirate was Mike Wiebe, who scored 25. Zach Fletcher did some damage, too, with 14 points. Wiebe will no doubt be a defensive focus tonight, and don’t be surprised if RHS coach Denny McHenry puts his son, Mitch, on Wiebe some. Despite a height disparity (Wiebe is 6-foot-6, McHenry 5-foot-11), McHenry might be the Tiger best suited to harass Wiebe. The RHS senior has the speed to check Wiebe on the perimeter and the strength to push him out of position on the block. Branson might eventually figure out how to get over the top of McHenry – who is a great athlete with the hops to challenge such shots – but they could slow down the junior swing man long enough to hold his point total down.

That will be one of the chess matches to watch tonight between a couple of great coaches. Branson’s Randy Bishop used his trademark 1-3-1 against Republic last week and has Denny guessing he’ll go back to the well. But will he? Or will Bishop throw man-to-man or a zone or junk defense at Republic? Keep an eye on the Pirates’ alignment tonight. If they zone, look for Republic to attack with dribble penetration – Trenton Laffoon is a likely candidate, as is McHenry – or get Matt Featheringill or Cory Dummit to soft spots on the baseline to get some lay-ups. Just don’t expect Republic to settle for 3-pointers again tonight.

The atmosphere should be electric tonight down in Branson. Expect a full house tonight.

We’ll check back in later if any other story lines surface, or if the game is postponed. It’s after 11 a.m. now and still no word on that front, so I think it’s looking good for tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.

–Jeff

Now listening to: Devendra Banhart – “Heard Somebody Say”

A frustrating end to the season for the Republic Lady Tigers, as they were upset by Rogersville 68-64 in the semifinals – but not necessarily a surprise.

That take and more after the jump…

Some would say this moment had been coming for some time. No one can question the Lady Tigers are a talented bunch, but they had struggled with slow starts and inconsistent play for much of the year. That lead coach Kris Flood to have what he called a “character-building” practice during the second half of the season (the basketballs never came out of the rack for that one), a rare move for him.

Credit, too, has to go to coach Keith Spaulding and the Lady ’Cats. They have steadily improved this season and were considered a threat even back in December, when Flood said the Pink & White committee didn’t do Republic any favors by handing L-R the 16th seed and giving them a first-round matchup with Republic. That was a close game for a half before Republic pulled away.

The Central Ozark Conference rematch this month was even closer. The Lady ’Cats hung in there for three quarters before Republic pulled away. That set up Tuesday’s meeting where the old chestnut “it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season” came true.

That was due in part to a good gameplan by Spaulding. He made sure his club got the ball to standout junior Callie Carroll – despite Republic’s best efforts to prevent that – and she responded with 12 first-half points. The Rogersville defense, meanwhile, kept the ball on the perimeter and forced Republic to shoot for 3, a risky proposition. RHS did hit five 3-pointers in the first half, but they did keep the ball away from Kara Blankenship, who can take over any game.

In the end it came down to who made plays, and the Lady ’Cats just made more. Puzzling, considering Republic was the veteran team. Yet there they were, nursing a three-point lead late in the game only to go 0-for-2 from the foul line, miss a lay-up and commit two turnovers.

Rogersville, win or lose against Branson in the championship game, will be a team to keep an eye on next season. They don’t play a single senior and got contributions from four underclassmen (three freshmen and a sophomore).

Republic, too, benefited from a youngster. It was Elle Aston, a sophomore, working to calm her teammates down in the fourth quarter. As they players lined up for an L-R free throw, Aston was telling the Lady Tigers to calm down and play their game.

As for the Tigers…

Would you have expected any less from the Republic-Rogersville game? I know these clashes are no fun for RHS coach Denny McHenry and L-R boss Rod Gorman – longtime friends and former colleagues at Bourbon – but their pain is our pleasure. It was a well-played, well-coached game that eventually went to the team that went after the loose balls and rebounds.

That team was Rogersville early before the Tigers woke up and battled. Hard. They played fantastic defense over the final quarter to spark a 12-2 run that put them on top. Rogersville got just three field goals in the final period and, by my count, just a pair of offensive rebounds. Republic, though, had four offensive boards.

The only downer was the fact Republic could’ve salted away the game at the foul line, but went just 6-for-13 over the final 3:29 – a fact that didn’t escape McHenry.

Now comes a rematch with Branson, just seven days after the Pirates escaped Republic with a 58-53 win on senior night. This one – which is still scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. – should be just as close. It’s been said that rematches like this often favor the team that lost the first time. Think McHenry agrees with that? We asked him and his answer will appear in our preview story. That should be up on our Web site late tonight or early tomorrow (oooooh….cliffhanger).

The rain right now seems to be melting the slush on the parking lot, but forming icicles on the cars. I don’t think it’s going to get much better tonight, so there is the possiblity that the title match will be moved back to Saturday (they’ve already postponed the girls game). Wither way, stay safe out there.

–Jeff

Now listening to: Mos Def – “Fear Not of Man”