(Very) Young Bernie BB players get valuable work through successful fall

The Bernie High School baseball program has strung together (at least) 14 consecutive winning baseball seasons in the spring, and after winning 15 of 20 games this fall, it appears that winning season number 15 is in order for next spring.

“If you look at who was in the lineup every day last year,” veteran Mule coach Marcus Massey said, “there were several guys (this fall) who got some at-bats last year, but as far as every day, there were only about four coming back that hit every single day.”

The Mules dropped their fall finale 10-5 to Campbell in the Mules’ own Fall Tournament earlier this month, but Massey’s team, which featured just one senior (Jayden Robinette) in the everyday lineup, had won seven straight leading up to that tournament title game.

Robinette was the Stoddard County Athletic Association Player of the Year last spring, so Massey knew what he had in him as a shortstop, hitter, and pitcher. However, he wanted to give younger players an opportunity to develop this fall, so he threw young arms such as sophomore Leightin Hicks and junior Taylor Stanfield a lot.

“(Stanfield and Hicks) probably threw more innings than Robinette did for me this fall,” Massey explained. “We’ve been sending them out there for an inning or two or three, just about every day.”

Against the Camels, Robinette worked four innings while Hicks threw the final three innings.

Hicks allowed four hits and just one earned run while walking one and striking out five of the 17 Campbell hitters that he faced.

The game prior to the championship game, Stanfield worked six innings in an 8-4 win over Bloomfield and allowed just two hits, no earned runs, walked one, and struck out (not a typo) 14 Wildcats of the 23 batters that he faced.

“Both (Stanfield and Hicks) have thrown really well for me,” Massey said. “A lot of these younger kids, they are growing, and they are going to be a lot different by the end of the spring, just because they are getting more and more time up on the mound.”

Against Campbell, junior catcher Cody Massey and sophomore Brayden Vaughn each had a pair of hits to pace the Mule offense.

Aside from those mentioned, Bernie also played sophomore Camden Stoner (right field), junior Cade Arnold (first base), freshman Cane Hobgood, and junior Taven Owens (left field) regularly.

As a hitter, Massey dabbled this fall with Hicks hitting lead-off after hitting in the number two spot for the second half of last spring.

“We started the fall with (Hicks) batting in the two spot,” Massey explained, “and Robinette leading us off. About seven or eight games in, I flipped them.”

Massey explained that Hicks had not only been solid on the mound, but he had also “taken a lot of good at-bats and a lot of pitches.”

“We moved them around,” Massey said, ‘and it worked out well for him.”

There is some pressure on Hicks to take a good number of pitches, because Massey explained, particularly in the opening at-bat, it helps the rest of the Mule hitters if they can see five, six, or seven pitches from the opposing pitcher before they hit.

“If you can go up there and see all of the pitches that he throws,” Massey said, “that is probably the toughest at-bat of the game. That gives the two-hole guy a good look at what he is probably going to see in his at-bat.”

After enduring three losing fall seasons in a row, Bernie baseball has now won 33 games over the past two seasons, which explains why Massey’s kids advanced to the MSHSAA Class 2 Quarterfinal last spring before falling 5-3 to Chaffee.

Of the 24 Mule players in the Bernie program, 21 will return in the 2024 fall and 2025 spring, as well.