Mules duo to play baseball at Three Rivers

Dylan Hall and Noah Spain have been teammates throughout their baseball careers at Poplar Bluff High School — and now they're going to be teammates in college.

Hall and Spain signed their letters of intent on Friday afternoon to play baseball next season at Three Rivers College at the PBHS cafeteria with several friends and family in attendance.

“Me and Noah have been wanting to play together for a while now and we've been eyeing Three Rivers,” Hall said. “He had a hitting coach that taught him who was a coach at Three Rivers at the time. And since it's a local school, we obviously like it. And once I saw (Noah) commit, I was like, 'Yeah, I think I want to go there, because we want to play two more years together.'”

Spain echoed his current and future teammate's sentiments.

“I had a bunch of coaches and people that I knew that went to Three Rivers — and I've known a lot of the players that have went there,” Spain said. “I just felt like God was calling me to play at Three Rivers for two years, and then maybe see what happens after those two years.”

The duo choosing Three Rivers also pleased Poplar Bluff coach John David Pattillo, who himself played for the Raiders in the mid-1980s.

“We're excited about,” Pattillo said. “Three of our coaching staff played there and to see our guys go there is exciting. And I'm excited for them and their families — two really good kids. I can't say enough about how honored I am to have been able to coach them the last couple years, and I'm just looking forward to their senior year.”

Hall and Spain have meant a lot to Poplar Bluff Mules baseball, Pattillo said.

“Both of them played as as freshmen and got to play some varsity time,” Pattillo said. “That was before I took over, and when I took over their sophomore year, they stepped right in, really in some leadership-type roles. … They still bases for us, they hit and they're both very good defense defensive players. Noah was one of our best pitchers last year. And Dylan will have to pitch some this year for us too. They're both heavily counted on for sure.”

Spain plans to major in biology at Three Rivers in addition to succeeding on the field.

“I want to be the best player that I can be,” Spain said, “and ultimately give all the glory to God and shine through him.”

Like Spain, Hall also wants to succeed on the field with the Raiders.

“I want to have a great career as far as stats, obviously, but I also want to grow as a baseball player and as a man,” Hall said. “I want to have a good work work ethic, and I want to continue to improve every day and every year.”

But before heading to TRC next season, there's one more season of Mules baseball, which kicks off later this month.

“I'm happy with what I've done here,” Spain said. “I still have a lot of work to do this year, trying to win a district title and then going (for) a state title. But I'm overall pleased at how it's gone so far.”

Said Hall: “In my past, I haven't done as great as I've wanted to, though my stats have been good. … “I'm going for a lot more stolen bases this year, (because) I think I can do that. With my batting average, I'm trying to go higher than I did last year, which Coach Pattillo said was .353. And my fielding, I made one error last year. It was my only error in all of high school, (but) I've got to eliminate that. I've got to be better.”