Mules locked in for SEMO tournament

What a difference a year makes.

The Poplar Bluff Mules baseball team has been on a tear this season, and it showed with their current seeding in this year’s Semo Conference Tournament. The Mules have made a significant jump in the conference by receiving the No.2 seed, five spots up from last season.

Though Mules' head coach John David Pattilo, is flourishing through his second season, he said a solid performance in the Semo tournament will set the tone for how they want to perform in the postseason. They are in an ideal position to do so after securing a top seed, and Pattilo is ready to compete.

“I feel fortunate because our kids have worked hard to get here,” Pattillo said. “After a couple of seasons here of work, I believe they’ve earned it. I’m really pleased with the opportunity to play in this position by getting the second seed. Once we start playing on Friday, it’s about playing the game, and we must win three games to give ourselves a chance to do something great.”

Pattillo said the goal for this season was getting the Mules ready for conference and district play. The Mules returned this season with many experienced players, and he said they’ve done a great job of setting the tone for how the Mules approach any game or practice.

With a few days off before the opening of the Semo tournament, the Mules have put in some long hours at Bobby Strenfel Field as they prepare to host No. 7 seed New Madrid County Central on Friday. Cleaning up the small things was the main focus at practice. The Mules put a lot of emphasis on defense by making the right play.

Offensively, the Mules will use their pitching and smart hitting from the plate to gain the upper hand in the tournament.

Senior and pitcher/first baseman Dylan Bratcher said getting a top seed was always the goal from the beginning of the season. With the Mules not being able to get many hits in last season’s tournament, Bratcher said the team is stepping up to the plate to prove a point.

“We’ve landed in a good spot this year,” Bratcher said. “We look forward to playing NMCC, but we can’t look past them. We hope to get through this game as quickly as possible. We want low pitch counts, so we won’t show many of our pitchers and have good at-bats. We want to start the tournament strong, hoping it will motivate us to play well in the other games.”

Despite heading into the tournament with a recent 10-5 loss to Oran, Pattilo said they didn’t hit the ball well, and he’s hoping they’ll be able to execute better at the plate. He said the big thing is to come out and throw strikes, giving them a chance to make some noise at the plate.

“If we’re going to do great, we must play clean baseball,” Pattilo said. “I’m hoping we come out this weekend ready to swing the bats and playing clean on the defensive side. Getting our pitchers settled into the rotation that we’re using this weekend is really going to set the tone for us. I’m hoping that how we play in this tournament will set us up for a good turnout for the district tournament.”