The Sun Sets on Baseball in Missouri

The Tigers ended their 2023 campaign on Tuesday, May 9th with a loss to College of the Ozarks in the Non-Dually Affiliated Group (NDAG) Regional Tournament. This was the first year that Grace participated in the NDAG Regional, which consists of opposing schools who are strictly NCCAA schools and are not also NAIA or NCAA affiliated. The winner of the Regional would advance to the National Tournament in Kansas City, MO. The Tigers have their sights set on moving towards the National Tournament in the years to come.

The Regional began with a first round matchup against the Randall University Saints. It was a pitcher’s duel between Freshman, Iwan Sitalo, and the Saints’ starting pitcher. Both pitchers would throw complete games, shutting down the opposing offenses almost completely. Sophomore, Dylan Thomas, smoked a ground-rule double over the left-center wall, but Grace couldn’t push him around to score. Sitalo would be the first to surrender a run, and the Tigers dropped the game by a heartbreaking score of 1-0.

Grace looked to rebound in the loser’s bracket the next morning against the host, College of the Ozarks, but went down quickly in the game 6-0 after the first inning. The Tigers struggled to stop the Bobcats’ offense on the day, giving up a total of 24 runs. In the last inning, Grace scraped together a run of their own, but ultimately fell by a score of 24-1. Sophomore, Jaden Schoeneman, led the offense going 2-3 with a double.

Coach Wolfe had this to say about the Regional, “It was good for our guys to come down here this year and get postseason experience. We didn’t get the results we hoped for, but I keep reminding the guys that we are building for the next several years. We expect to come back next year and make a splash.”

The Tigers capped off their season at an 8-33 record, which is a 5 win improvement from their initial campaign in 2022. The team improved many statistics across the board, and will bring in a strong incoming recruiting class to add to what is already here. The team will take the summer off, and return to the field in the fall with home stands against Alice Lloyd College and Kentucky Christian University in September and October. Stay tuned on the website for details later in the summer.