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Maysville heats up, flies past Chaffee baseball in high-scoring semifinal
With a berth in the state championship game on the line, Chaffee baseball couldn’t keep up with Maysville in a 12-4 loss to end the Red Devils’ run at the gold.
In a rematch of last season’s third-place game when Chaffee defeated Maysville in a 1-0 duel, Maysville brought the fireworks Monday as it hung four crooked numbers in six opportunities.
Trading blows early, it appeared as if Chaffee could give Maysville a real run as it pounced for an early 2-run lead before Maysville snagged back a 3-2 lead of its own.
With a late demolition of the Chaffee defense and a handful of late Devils pitching changes, the Wolverines of Maysville put the game to rest.
Ahead of a final third-place game on Tuesday, less than 24 hours removed from the end of Monday’s game, the focus has shifted to one last game for this talented Devils senior class.
“We expect a good game, and just hope that our kids can regroup tonight, wake up early and try to go make it happen,” Chaffee coach Aaron Horrell said.
The Wolverines, averaging 8.8 runs per game in the 2024 season, are hot in pursuit of their first state championship in program history, and it was evident by their intensity.
Chaffee threw four different arms, producing all different kinds of looks against a great Maysville offense, but the Red Devils could never find an answer.
After Chaffee rallied back to make it just a 1-run game at 5-4 in the fifth, the Wolverines added 3 and 4 runs to their lead in the fifth and sixth respectively to seal the deal and advance to the state championship Tuesday afternoon.
For the Red Devils, traveling four hours across the state’s southern border, it’s the second semifinal loss in as many years where they just couldn’t keep up with an explosive opposing offense.
“We just never could quite figure it out defensively today,” Horrell said.
“Just uncharacteristic of us. We've played some great defense here in the last couple of weeks today, just wasn't our day.”
Eli Glueck got the start on the mound, and after three innings of some tough ball for Maysville, he the ball to Levi McKinnie.
McKinnie pitched sharp for 1.1 innings, but due to pitching limits and with Horrell still preparing for a start for McKinnie on Tuesday, removed the star arm.
Both Kade Atkisn and Peyton Vaughn followed McKinnie on the bump, and after some highs and lows from both arms, the game finally came to a close with Maysville winning thanks to a high-motor offense.
Top to bottom, the Chaffee offense produced well in the loss, notching seven hits and drawing four walks but never enough to stay as hot as Maysville, falling out of a shootout early.
Moving into a Tuesday third-place game against the Tipton Cardinals, there’s hope for a bounceback for Chaffee as it prepares to conclude its stay in Southwest Missouri.
The Cardinals are expected to throw all-state junior Lucas Cashman against Chaffee ace McKinnie, setting up a super showdown on the mound between state-renowned pitching talent.
For such a talented senior class, which elevated Chaffee baseball to heights unknown for decades, it’s one last hoorah before stepping away from the program.
Before they go, however, Horrell asked one more thing of that group ahead of the Devils’ Tuesday tilt.
“Our community and our school have been so supportive of us and we've had a good following,” Horrell said.
“We've got people listening on the radio and people made the drive out here and people donate it to our cause to make sure that we got to feed the kids well and enjoy our time while we're here.
“Just to pay our respects to those people, we need to go out and perform in a way that would illustrate our appreciation and represent our town and our school.”