Poplar Bluff baseball 'learning how to battle' through early trials

POPLAR BLUFF – The Poplar Bluff High School baseball team is having to navigate its way under first-year Mule coach John David Patillo this spring after spending seven years under Steve Edwards, who resigned to take the same position at Dexter, so it is a bit understandable that the Mules have been a touch inconsistent through seven games this spring.

“We’ve had some good games,” Patillo said after getting 10-runned by the Bearcats, “and we’ve had some games like this.”

Tuesday was a perfect example of that.

Poplar Bluff (3-4) exploded for 15 runs in a rout of Naylor and has scored a combined 37 runs in three of its games this spring.

“We’re still inconsistent (offensively),” Patillo said. “But we have proven that we can get on base, and we can score some runs.”

The Mules connected for 10 hits against the Eagles and scored 14 runs in a season-opening win over Neelyville.

Within the SEMO Conference, Poplar Bluff recently got past Cape Central by scoring eight runs.

Against Naylor, Mule senior Kayson King, sophomore Noah Spain, and senior David Durbin each had two hits in the win.

“We’ve got to learn how to put it all together,” Patillo said of pitching, hitting, and defense.

Poplar Bluff used five pitchers in the loss to Dexter, but on Tuesday, Mule junior Dylan Bratcher was phenomenal against Naylor.

Bratcher worked four innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out six Eagle batters.

He only walked two hitters and gave up five hits, as he threw 46 strikes in 67 pitches.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who are new to pitching,” Patillo said. “We’ve got some very inexperienced guys.”

Patillo is more renowned in southeastern Missouri for his basketball coaching career with the Mules, though he played baseball at Southern Illinois and coached the American Legion baseball program in Poplar Bluff earlier in his career.

“Can’t I be both,” Patillo laughed when asked if he was a basketball or baseball guy.

Regardless of the sport, a common theme for a Patillo team has been toughness, which Poplar Bluff showed even when trailing Dexter by a large margin.

“The good thing is,” Patillo said, “is that the kids have continued to come out here and battle. They did not seem to get too down about (the quick deficit).

“We kept playing and we talked about that (after the game). We are trying to teach the kids to continue to battle.”

The Mules (barring a weather-related cancellation following Friday’s expected storms) will host Van Buren (1-5) on Saturday at 11 a.m.