C4D1 BB: Another spring, another dominant Kennett team

DEXTER – Over the past three baseball seasons, the Kennett High School program has been as successful as just about any you could find in Missouri.

“It’s been a good run for us over the last couple of years,” 16th-year coach Aaron New said following his team’s most recent victory. “We’ve been lucky to have some really good players.”

The latest edition of Indian baseball appears to be as dominant as the other squads, as Kennett obliterated Fredericktown 18-3 in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 semifinal on Monday at East Park in Dexter.

Kennett (20-8) will face SEMO Conference rival Notre Dame (13-10-1) in the championship game today at East Park at 4:30 p.m.

Despite the final score, the Blackcats (11-11) actually had some initial success against Indian junior starter Ashton Williams.

Fredericktown laced four consecutive singles to open the game before Kennett even registered an out.

The Blackcats added a walk to those connections and led 3-0 before Kennett had even gotten at-bat. But when the Indians did get a chance to hit, they left no doubt about how this night would go.

Kennett opened their offensive night with a pair of doubles (senior Brooks Nigut and junior Matthew Gardner), a couple of walks (seniors Tanner Pierce and Trey Gardner), and a single (sophomore Hayden Gilmore) before Fredericktown got an out, and ultimately, the Indians scored seven first-inning runs and never looked back.

“More than (just being good players),” New continued, “they have been really good people. We’ve been able to coach them. There are no superstars and I’ve just been blessed, especially in the last five, six, seven years to coach a lot of great players.”

Kennett has advanced to each of the last two Final Fours, winning the title in 2021 and finishing third a year ago. Much of this roster played critical roles in that success.

“We have had a really good feeder program in Kennett, ever since I have been there,” New said. “I’ve had some really good guys who have coached in that for me.”

On Monday, the Indians added four more runs in the third inning and seven more in the fourth to end the game.

In all, New’s kids totaled 13 hits, led by lead-off hitter Pierce and junior Matthew Gardner, each of whom had three hits.

Williams allowed three earned runs in the first inning on four hits while walking one and striking out two Blackcats. But after that inning, New went to junior pitcher Peyton Branum, who was spectacular in relief.

Branum faced 10 batters over three innings and gave up one hit and no runs. He threw 22 strikes in 32 pitches and struck out four while walking none.

Pierce scored three times to go with his three RBI and a walk.

Matthew Gardner scored a couple of times to go with three RBI and a walk, while Gilmore (two runs, one hit, one RBI, one walk), Nigut (two runs, one hit, two RBI), Trey Gardner (two runs, two walks), Caleb Duncan (two runs, one hit, two RBI, one walk), Branum (one walk), Williams (two runs, two hits, two RBI, one walk), and John Poole (three runs, two hits, two RBI, one walk) also contributed.

Matthew Gardner, Pierce, Nigut, Poole, and Williams all had doubles.

The title game will be a rematch of an 11-8 win by the Indians earlier this season.

“We need to pitch it a little bit better against them than we did the first time,” New said. “We swung it pretty well against them, but we didn’t pitch well that day.

“If we pitch and catch and we put together some at-bats like we did today, it will be tough, but I think we can make a game out of it.”

Bulldog coach Jeff Graviett has already announced his retirement from coaching following 27 seasons, but New is not getting sentimental in terms of allowing Graviett to coach any longer.

“He has taken plenty of games from us,” New said. “So, we’re going to give him our best effort. I promise you.”