Southeast Missourian baseball player of the year: Notre Dame's Chase Urhahn

After watching his team's season end twice in the state baseball quarterfinals, Notre Dame senior Chase Urhahn doesn't think he'll ever forget the accomplishment his team achieved in the final game of his varsity career.

It was a triumph underlined by its dominance. The Bulldogs outscored their postseason competition 76-11 over six games to claim the Class 4 championship earlier this month, a moment Urhahn and his teammates will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

"That'll be a moment I'm going to remember forever, holding that trophy and being with all my friends I've played with since I was 9 years old," Urhahn said. "... It's awesome that we got to come together and all win a state championship."

The Notre Dame leadoff hitter was a key contributor for the Bulldogs throughout his high school career.

Urhahn started in left field as a junior and batted second, but following the departure of Josh Haggerty, Urhahn moved into the Bulldogs' leadoff spot as a senior and took Haggerty's spot in center field. The result was one of the most productive offensive seasons in the history of Notre Dame baseball as Urhahn wrapped up his senior season with a school-record 39 stolen bases and tied the school record in runs scored with 42.

Like Haggerty, Urhahn was named the Southeast Missourian Baseball Player of the Year, which links them in an inevitable way.

"He got to grow under Josh, and I think that was one of the biggest things that he had," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said about Urhahn. "They had very similar types of playing styles, and Josh was that quiet type of leader. So Chase just kind of stepped back and picked up a lot of his qualities.

2015 All-Missourian Baseball - Chase Urhahn - Notre Dame Regional High School (Glenn Landberg)

"I've had the chance to be around Chase since a young age. I had a stepson that played baseball with him growing up. I knew what he could do. I got to talking to him about what I liked out of a leadoff hitter, a guy who not only has speed but is a gap-to-gap type of hitter that has some power and can cause havoc on the bases. I saw some of those attributes in him early on and just knew he was going to be a great leadoff hitter for us."

Urhahn first began playing baseball when he was 6 years old, throwing to himself and hitting tennis balls every chance he got.

"Any time I could get my hands on a bat, I was swinging a bat," he said.

He was used at every position during his little-league days, but it wasn't until his sophomore season that Urhahn became entrenched as an outfielder for Notre Dame.

"I started off playing some, and then I finally started hitting the ball well and got a spot," he said. "I kind of stuck with that spot the next two years also, and I tried to become a leader my senior year and show the new guys that hadn't had a whole lot of varsity experience how to get it done."

Urhahn batted .468 his junior year and had 19 RBIs and 16 stolen bases, but the Bulldogs' aspirations of reaching the Class 4 final four were ended by Westminster Christian Academy in the state quarterfinals for the second consecutive season. Notre Dame dropped a 2-1 decision against the Wildcats, who went on to win their fourth straight state title. The Bulldogs finished their season with a 24-4 mark.

Haggerty was Notre Dame's unquestioned leader, batting .531 in the leadoff spot with a team-leading 37 RBIs. He was also 2-0 on the mound with a 1.54 ERA over 22 2/3 innings.

Perhaps more importantly, Haggerty set the stage for Urhahn to take over as the Bulldogs' next top hitter.

"We're both almost kind of the same player. We're both left-handed. We're both outfielders. We're both pretty quick," Urhahn said. "He was definitely a motivation for me. He had an unbelievable year. I had a pretty good year last year, but he had an outstanding year. He's definitely somebody I looked up to because whenever he came into his sophomore year, he was kind of small and skinny, and then he hit the weights and shot up pretty good. ... He was definitely a role model."

Urhahn began his senior season slowly but concluded it with a torrent of offense. In six postseason games, Urhahn batted .684 with four extra-base hits, including a grand slam in Notre Dame's 13-3 victory over Smithville in the state semifinals.

"That was a good experience," Urhahn said about the grand slam. "I started off the year a little slow, and then I started picking it back up. That gave me some real momentum that I could start off in a little bit of a slump and then figure it out and start getting hits."

He finished the year batting .421 with 23 RBIs and had an OBP of .504.

"I had a whole lot of motivation because going to state, it's like, 'OK, this is the last shot. This is my last chance,'" Urhahn said. "I told everybody, too, whenever we were in the huddle, 'This is our last shot. Just see the ball. Hit the ball. Don't try to do too much. Get on base. Let somebody do the job,' and that's just what we kept doing.

Notre Dame's Chase Urhahn reaches second base safely on a steal as Jackson second baseman Jon Schumer looks for the call during the sixth inning Monday, April 6, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Fred Lynch)

"I was seeing the ball well, and it was just awesome to be able to get really hot during the postseason."

Graviett said the prize of winning a state championship was all the motivation his team needed in the playoffs.

"He put the focus on like a lot of those guys did and was really just playing his best baseball at the time," Graviett said about Urhahn. "He wanted to make sure that he could do whatever he could do. ... All year long, we went as he went, and a lot of our success offensively at the end of the year lended to getting him on base to cause havoc."

Urhahn said the biggest adjustment he made heading into his senior season was learning to become more patient at the plate.

"As a leadoff guy, you've got to see what the pitcher has. Is his fastball moving? Is his curveball sharp? Is it breaking good? So I had to be patient at the plate and take some pitches," he said. "If I got out or got a hit or something, when I came back to the dugout, they'd be like, 'Hey, what's he got?' ... Last year, I could jump on the first pitch as a two-hole [hitter] because I could see and Josh would tell me what [the pitcher] had."

The Bulldogs had eight seniors in their starting lineup, which batted .342 on the season and had only two starters finish below .300.

"It's like [No. 9 batter] Ross [Essner] is like a second leadoff man," Urhahn said. "If the eight-hole gets out, Ross comes up. He's basically the leadoff man for that inning because he could hit in the No. 1 spot, too. They could interchange anybody in that lineup because everyone on the team just had a tremendous year."

It comes as no surprise that Urhahn credits Graviett, who's in his 17th year as Notre Dame's coach, as being one of the biggest influences on his baseball career.

"Coach Graviett has been a family friend for a long time, so he knows me better than anybody out there," Urhahn said. "... He can tell when I'm trying to hit the ball out of the park or something like that, and that's usually when I get in trouble. He usually says, 'Just stay back, be patient and just hit the ball.'"

But Urhahn also gives credit to his father, Kenny, for having always provided a distinct, guiding voice from the other side of the fence.

"He's coached me since I was little, since I was 6 years old when I first started playing, and he's always giving me advice," Urhahn said. "He's probably my No. 1 role model because if I'm struggling or something, if I kind of pop up, he just tells me to stay back. He helps me out throughout the game."

Urhahn also has a lot in common with his favorite professional player, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter, who, like Urhahn, is a left-handed hitter with a patient approach at the plate.

2015 All-Missourian Baseball - Chase Urhahn - Notre Dame Regional High School (Glenn Landberg)

"What he does on deck is he tries to stay through the ball. The swings he's taking, he chokes up real far on the bat and just kind of takes a half swing. I like to watch that, and I understand what he's doing," Urhahn said about Carpenter. "His approach at the plate is great. He's got the best eye, I think, in baseball because he sees the ball well and doesn't strike out very much. He knows his balls and strikes very well, so I love watching him."

The next step for Urhahn will be competing at the college level with Mineral Area College, where he and teammate Logan Heisserer will join Haggerty and former Notre Dame standout Jesse Schott.

Urhahn said MAC "was a better fit" over the likes of Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri-St. Louis and Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City.

"I've been wanting to play college ball," said Urhahn, who's entering college with an undecided major. "Obviously it's every little kid's dream to play in the majors, but college level is good enough for me. That's awesome. It's like a dream come true to be able to play there. I'm also teaming up with Josh, so that's great, too. I know some people up there at Mineral Area, so it should be a fun experience.

"It's a good feeling that people are out there seeing the work you put in and are like, 'Yeah, this guy's a good player. We want him.' That's a really good feeling."

Graviett understands the transition to the college level will be a challenge but believes Urhahn will have no problem adjusting.

"He'll have to become a different type of baserunner. Moving up a level, it won't be as easy as it was for him, but he's very intelligent and very aggressive," Graviett said. "He'll figure things out. ... He'll find a way to compete at that level."

Beyond that, Urhahn isn't sure where baseball will take him, but he understands that wherever it leads him, hard work will be the vessel.

"You put in all the hard work as a young kid, so it's like, 'OK, let's try to make it as far as we can. Keep hitting. Keep doing all that.' Minor leagues, anything like that would be awesome," Urhahn said. "It's really hard to do obviously, but that would definitely be one of my dreams. That's definitely a goal."