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Howell out-slugs Vianney to reach Class 4 title game

June 4, 2011

By Mike Rosenbaum

 

 
SPRINGFIELD, Mo - When Francis Howell (31-3) battled from a four run deficit to beat Vianney (25-9) on April 20, the game had the feel and intensity of a state championship game. On Friday at Meador Park, the two teams engaged in what will surely be remembered as the most dramatic and exciting game of the entire 2011 Missouri high school baseball season.
 
In a game where the two teams combined for 27 runs on 33 hits, 20 of which were for extra bases, Howell ultimately was able to pull out the 14-13 win thanks to the late-inning heroics of both Zac Perkins and Brett Peel.
 
With Brett Graves (right) on the hill, Howell seemed to be the clear-cut favorite to win and advance to the Class 4A Championship. However, neither team expected that there would be wind gusts of 15-20 mph blowing straight out and that balls would be leaving the yard nearly every inning.
 
Refusing to be intimidated by Graves?who was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri on Wednesday and figures to be selected at some point during the MLB Amateur Draft on June 6-8?Vianney immediately conveyed the message that their season would not end without a battle, as they scored two quick runs in the top of the first.
 
After a one-out walk to Jake Walters, first baseman Ryan Barnes (right) turned on a 90 mph Graves? offering, hammering it well over the right field fence and setting the tone for the Golden Griffins.
 
Un-phased by the early deficit, Howell quickly responded with two runs in the home half of the inning to tie the game, 2-2. After Vianney starter Tim Agne issued back-to-back walks to Brett Peel and Jake Ivory, the dangerous Case Munson did what he?s done all season: drive in runs. The Jefferson College-bound third baseman laced a two-run triple down the right field that shifted the momentum back in the Vikings? favor.
 
Howell threatened to take the lead in the second inning, when Jacob Rhodes hit a two-out double and Graves ripped a single through the left side. They were ultimately denied the lead, however, as left fielder Zach Knese fired a strike to the plate to cut down Rhodes as he tried to score from second.
 
In the bottom of the third the Vikings? offense came alive. After an infield error allowed Peel to reach base, Ivory (right) belted a two-run home run to left-center to give Francis Howell a 4-2 lead. After recording an out, Agne issued a one-out walk to Kyle Nuetzel, who was promptly plated on a double to right fielder by Jared Hagley. But even with a 5-2 lead, it was obvious that the Vikings knew that no lead was safe.
 
After Rhodes was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning, Graves helped his own cause when he smacked a two-run home run to left to extend the Vikings? lead to 6-2. They would go on to add one more run in the frame thanks to an RBI single by Ivory.
 
Facing a five-run deficit with the time for a comeback running out, the Griffins began to cut into Howell?s lead. With two outs in the fifth, Barnes coaxed a walk from Graves and Ryan Snyder delivered a crucial two-run home run to right-center.
 
Howell got one of the runs back in the home half of the fifth, though, when a bases loaded walk to Munson made it a 9-4 game.
 
In the top of the sixth, with Graves eclipsing the 100 pitch mark, the Griffins responded with five runs on four hits to tie the game, 9-9. With one out in the inning, Petey Spradlin ripped a double off the wall, and subsequently came around to score on a double by Nick Ulrich. Then, with two outs and following a walk to Walters, Barnes came up with another clutch hit. The senior first baseman drove a two-run double over Ivory?s head that plated two runs and slimmed the Vikings? lead to 9-7.
 
But once again, it was Snyder who played the part of the hero for the Griffins, launching his second two-run home run of the game to right center to tie the game, 9-9. After entering the game in the fifth inning, closer Teddy Rule retired the Vikings in order in the sixth, priming his offense to take a lead in the process.
 
Continuing to apply pressure, Vianney rallied for two runs with two outs to take a 11-9 lead. After Spradlin singled and Ulrich reached on an infield error, a balk put runners on second and third. This time, however, Walters came up with the big hit, as he muscled a single through the left side to give his team a 12-11 lead. It quickly became a two run lead thanks to a bases loaded walk to Barnes.
 
But just as it had been the story of the game, Howell posted a dramatic comeback with the game on line. After Rhodes led off the inning with a double against closer Teddy Rule, Peel laced an RBI double, his second of the game. Two batters later, Ivory added another RBI single ahead of Peel, who singled home the tying run to send the game into extra innings.
 
With Ivory now on the bump in his second inning of relief, the eighth inning started off in perfect fashion for Vianney, as Knese lined a solo home run to right to lead off the inning and put the Griffins back on top, 12-11.   With one out, Jack Klages then lined a single to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Ulrich came through with a timely, two-out RBI single to center to give the Griffins a two-run lead.
 
After a strikeout to lead off Howell?s half of the eighth, Gordie Gundaker collected his first hit of the game, a double. The next batter, Hagley, was retired on an infield pop up, and for a moment, it looked as though Vianney might finally avenge their April loss and upset the immensely talented Vikings. Nic Perkins had a different idea, however.
 
Down to his final strike, the shortstop belted a fastball up and over the batter?s eye in center field for his first home run of the season.

 

 
?I was just waiting for a good pitch and he made a mistake and it was right there,? said the Vikings? shortstop after the game. ?I swung as hard as I could and that wind just took it out.?
 
?It was the craziest baseball game I?ve ever been a part of,? he added. ?I don?t know if I?ve ever thought I?d be in that situation getting that hit?it?s a dream come true.?
 
?I started crying,? said his father, head coach Tony Perkins. ?That?s a pretty cherished moment when your son does something like that.?
 
Demoralized by the unexpected game-tying blast, Rule allowed a single to Rhodes and hit Graves with a pitch to put runners on first and second with two out. And just as he had done all game, Peel turned in a spectacular at-bat before he finally hammered the ball into the right-centerfield gap to plate the winning run and catapult the Vikings into the Class 4A Championship Game on Saturday.

 
Both the howling wind and the fact that the game was a battle between two of the state?s best offenses led to the pitchers of both teams having little success of Friday. Although he surrendered ten hits in the contest, Graves showed hi best velocity of the season, touching 93 mph on several occasions. The right-hander fanned eight while walking only two.
 
After picking up his first varsity win in the Vikings? comeback against Vianney on April 20, Ivory, a University of Missouri signee like Graves, once again picked up the win in a similar fashion.
 
Several players had huge games for the Vikings: Graves was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI; Peel was 4-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBI; Ivory was 3-for-4 with a home run; and Rhodes finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two doubles.
 
Perkins was 1-for-5 with the big two-run home run, while Munson was 1-for- 4 with four RBI.
 
For the Griffins: Barnes was 2-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and 5 RBI; Snyder finished 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBI; Knese finished 3-for-5 with a home run and double.
 
Both Spradlin and Ulrich had three hits, one of which was a double, while Klages collected two.
 
Francis Howell will play Liberty in the Class 4A Championship at 1 pm at Meador Park.
 
?I couldn?t be prouder of this group of guys. It?s so neat to see the team pick each other up like that and never say die and win a baseball game,? said an emotional Perkins after the game. ?Now we?re in a position where we?ve wanted to be all year, and we?ve got a shot at doing it.?