It was the tale of two “Jakes” that gave Galena high school’s boys baseball team its first district championship since the mid-1980’s.
Jake Baker, the Bears starting pitcher, held Marionville to just a single run and four hits in going the distance in their Class 2, District 11 finale at College of the Ozarks. He walked just two, and struck-out six.
“What a competitor,” Galena head coach Byron Richardson said of Baker’s performance. “He did a great job of getting out of some tough innings early. They loaded the bases and he gave up just one run. That was huge. And after we scored, he just went back to being dominant.
But Baker’s great performance would have been in vain had it not been for the other Jake who provided the only runs the Bears would manage in their final at-bat in the last of the sixth.
Galena trailed Marionville 1-0 entering that frame and quickly got two outs. However, Baker started the rally with a hit, Caleb Hall reached on an error, and Logan Sorrell walked to load-the-bases.
That’s when the other Jake, Jake LaFevers, stepped to the plate.
“I was thinking of he was going to give me something I was going to drill it,” LaFevers said. “And he gave me one right where I like it. I little high, and I hit it the other way.”
LaFevers two-run single was one of just five hits the Bears managed in the game, but it was all they needed in their 2-1 victory.
“That was the first time I’ve gotten a hit that meant something that great,” LaFevers said of game-deciding hit.
“I knew that he was gonna get a pitch to hit,” Richardson added. “And that first pitch is what he got. He’s a great fastball hitter and it’s hard to get one by him. So as soon as he saw that, we were in good shape.”
With their 22-4 record and top-seeding, Galena was definitely the favorite over the 14-11 Comets. But up until that one-hit in the 6th inning, Marionville looked like they had a great chance to pull off the upset.
Yet the Galena players never doubted they could come through in the clutch.
“In the 5th inning I told them that we hadn’t played our best baseball yet,” Richardson explained. “I told them to just quit thinking and trust themselves. We still had time. Our goal is to get a run an inning. And in the 6th we got two and that’s even better.”
But Richardson admitted that waiting so late to put together a comeback did make him a little nervous.
“Oh goodness. I told them these low-scoring games are trying to make me go-grey early,” he said with a smile. “But I have faith in them.”
And while Richardson said the team’s goal all year long was to win their district, he added that the Bears are excited about going further.
“There was a lot of hype all year long with us ranked fourth in the state, Richardson said. “There were a lot of expectations on these guys. Now that we’re past that, we can go back to work and have some success knowing that we’ve been there and done that before.”
