Poplar Bluff has learned, made strides in Patillo's first season

By TOM DAVIS

Contributing Writer

Despite having eight seniors on his roster, first-year Poplar Bluff High School baseball coach John David Pattillo said this spring has provided a wealth of opportunities for his players to learn the game.

“We’ve got a group,” Pattillo said, “that every time they go out there, we’re hitting new experiences on the field. We’re seeing new things and reacting to them.”

The Mules had lost four games before the calendar had even flipped to April earlier this season. However, Pattillo’s kids have won four of their past seven games heading into Monday’s regular-season finale against Farmington (11-11), which will be played in Poplar Bluff at 4:30 p.m.

Of those three recent defeats, you have to take into consideration that two of them were against SEMO Conference powers Kennett (Class 4 No. 8-ranked) and Jackson (Class 6 No. 7-ranked), the latter of which the Mules (12-14) will face in the opening round of the MSHSAA Class 6 District 1 Tournament on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.

“We’ve lost a few games during the previous week, where we actually played decent,” Pattillo said recently. “Then we’ve won a few games, here and there, where we were playing pretty well.”

Poplar Bluff dropped an 11-1 game at Farmington on Wednesday, but committing five errors made the scoreboard appear worse than perhaps it should have.

Junior pitcher Rylan Sessengood, who was tremendous in a recent SEMO Conference Tournament win over Sikeston, took the loss against the Knights after working just two innings. However, he only allowed four earned runs and walked two batters.

“Well,” Pattillo said of Sessengood recently, “he doesn’t throw anything (specifically) for strikes. I say that, in all seriousness, he throws the ball with a lot of spin. He has a lot of junk to him.”

Sessengood threw 26 strikes to the 13 Farmington hitters that he faced, after throwing 65 strikes in 102 pitches against Sikeston.

“Sometimes,” Pattillo said of the movement on Sessengood’s throws, “it’s hard to handle, and other times it is really good.

“Rylan is just a competitive kid, who wants to be on the mound.”

Another Poplar Bluff junior thrower, Dylan Bratcher, worked two innings against Farmington and struck out three Knight hitters in the 14 that he faced in two innings.

Like Sessengood, Bratcher has the ability to be very impressive, at times.

In a recent 7-3 win over East Carter, Bratcher, who threw 98 pitches (60 for strikes) in the game, allowed just three hits in a complete game.

He gave up just two earned runs while walking three and striking out four Redbirds.

The 12 wins are more than either of the previous two seasons (11 and nine, respectively) for the Poplar Bluff program.

“Oh definitely,” Pattillo said of his team making strides this season. “We’re a lot better than we were (at the beginning). Our coaches were talking about that recently.

“We’re definitely a lot better.”