Woodland baseball has put 'pedal to the metal' post tragedy

DEXTER – There would have been no one that chastised the Woodland High School baseball program for having its struggles on the field over the past two weeks, as the communities of Glenallen and Marble Hill recover (for years to come) mentally and emotionally from the deadly tornado that swept through those communities on April 5. However, the Cardinal players have proven to be a resilient bunch, and continued with that mindset on Wednesday, as they smoked host Dexter 14-5 in the championship game of the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament at East Park.

“It’s been an up and down thing,” third-year Woodland coach Tyler Qualls said following the win. “Having a tragic thing come through that town and community, we are a small community where everybody pulls together. So, it is a close-knit family.”

The Cardinals have focused on the task at hand, rather than worry about things out of their control, but still, in a small town, everyone knows someone who has been impacted by the storm.

“We were kind of lucky,” Qualls said. “The majority of our guys were not necessarily in (Glenallen).”

Since the tragedy, the Cardinals (9-5) have won five of seven games and tore through the SCAA Tournament by scoring 37 combined runs in three games.

“We’ve just battled through stuff,” Qualls said. “Going back to the tragedy, everything has just kind of hit home and ever since then, we’ve been pedal to the metal and getting after it.”

Woodland wasted no time in sending a message to the Bearcats that this would not be their night.

The Cardinals scored 10 runs over the first three innings and were never really threatened again.

Woodland senior Grainger Yurevich controlled the Bearcats through 4 2/3 innings. He allowed just two earned runs on five hits while walking three and striking out six.

“I think that he threw really well,” Qualls said of Yurevich.

Yurevich did throw just 65 strikes in his 104 pitches, before being relieved by senior Josy Cook, who worked the final 2 1/3 innings.

“One thing that I think Grainger could do better,” Qualls said, “is being a little more efficient early in the innings.”

Three Cardinal players tallied a couple of hits each, led by Cook, who scored three runs from his lead-off spot, to go with one RBI and one walk.

Lane VanGennip had two hits, two runs, two RBI, and two walks, while Seth Abernathy drove home five runs on two hits.

Brayden Hastings (one hit, four runs, two RBI), Yurevich (one hit, two RBI, one walk), Kale Landewee (one run, one RBI, two walks), Kiren Lindley (two walks), Hayden VanGennip (one run), Jason Cureton (one run), and Colton Jordan 9two runs, one walk) also contributed to the win.

Bearcat sophomore Beau Carrier culminated an outstanding tournament at the plate by banging out three hits to go with two RBI, while Nolan Alford (one hit, one run), Houston Neely (one run, one walk), Kaeden Kennedy (one run, one hit, one walk), Cole Nichols (one hit), Jackson Howard (one walk), Logan Jelinek (one walk), Landon Wilson (one run), and Ryan Young (one hit, one run, one RBI) were also productive for the Bearcats (7-7).

The tournament title was the first in over a decade for Woodland.

The Cardinals will face Pattonville today in the Cape Central Showcase and Ellsberry on Saturday.

Dexter will travel to Notre Dame on Saturday at 5 p.m.