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Bell City BB riding experienced arms (finally) to success
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Bell City High School senior pitcher Dawson Loomes throws against Cooter earlier this fall.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
Some Missouri high school baseball programs have the unique advantage of playing 20-some games each fall, which allows programs like Bell City to get a step ahead in assessing different players and situations that may result in success in the spring.
“I’m putting guys in situations,” veteran Cub manager Justin Simpher said recently, “where I am seeing what they can do. You’ll do something here or there and see if they can execute.
“Then, it’s OK, we can do this later on.”
What Simpher hasn’t had to experiment with is his pitching staff.
The Cubs are deep and experienced (finally) on the mound, and that is showing as Simpher’s guys have won four of their last five games.
Bell City (6-3) will host South Pemiscot (1-6) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., and more than likely, the Bulldog hitters are going to see an arm that has thrown a lot of innings in his high school career.
“This happens when you have a young team,” Simpher said. “Early on in their high school careers, it was a learning curve for them.”
Bell City has thrown seniors Dawson Loomes and Baylor Eftink this fall, as well as juniors Jacob Asher, Kale Richardson, and Linc Scherer, and those experienced pitchers have thrived.
Asher beat Bernie (4-3) in the Mules’ recent wood bat tournament by throwing a complete game and allowing just two earned runs and no walks.
The Mules (8-4) got seven hits, but Asher’s four strikeouts and some capable defense and hitting allowed the Cubs to survive.
Asher, Scherer, and Richardson teamed up to beat a 12-win Risco squad 4-3 in a game in which the three Cub pitchers struck out eight, walked just three, and allowed three earned runs in seven innings.
“Hopefully,” Simpher said of their early workloads, “that makes them more battle-tested.”
Asher worked five innings in another close victory (4-3) against Arcadia Valley (5-5). In that win, he gave up nine hits, but only one earned run, and one walk, and struck out five hitters.
Most recently, the Cubs topped Leopold 6-3, as Loomes and Eftink each threw three-plus innings.
Loomes walked none and struck out seven in that win while allowing two earned runs.
Eftink struck out four and didn’t allow an earned run.
“They are ready for these situations,” Simpher said, “and they are wanting to be in those situations.”
Even in the lone recent defeat, a 4-3 loss to Greenville (8-2), Loomes and Eftink combined to allow just one earned run in six innings while striking out eight.
The growth of these pitchers can be measured in victories by Bell City through the years.
When Loomes and Eftink were freshmen, Bell City won just three games in the spring of 2022. The next season it was eight wins, and this past spring the Cubs won 13 games.
“That right there,” veteran Cooter High School coach David Mathis said after squeaking by Bell City earlier this fall 3-2, “is a top 10 Class 1 team in the state.”
Bell City played for the MSHSAA Class 1 District 2 championship last spring and fell just 2-0 to eventual Class 1 state champion Oran. The two-run margin was the second-tightest game of the six postseason tests the Eagles faced last spring.
“This is all that this is about,” Simpher said of the tests, “is learning and getting better.”