Tigers take next step on road to state finals

Thursday, May 29, 2003

An upbeat, confident bunch of Nevada Tigers hit the road for a sectional baseball showdown against Branson today. The recently crowned Class 3, District 12 champion Tigers (13-12) will battle Branson (20-7) for the right to advance to the quarterfinal round of the MSHSAA playoffs. The winner will meet the Willard vs. Warrensburg victor. Nevada will be clad in their "lucky' white uniforms, in which they're undefeated. "We're ready to put on the old white uniforms again and see what happens," said Nevada coach Tyson Beshore. "We're wearing them every game from now on. We don't care if the other team's in white, we're going to be in white, too." Left-hander Danny Penn (6-3) will get the start for the Tigers. Said Beshore, "They're a good fastball hitting team, so hopefully with Danny's curveball and changeup we'll be able to keep them off balance a little bit and surprise them with his fastball." "My arm's really felt good the last two times I pitched," said Penn, a senior who sports a 1.71 earned-run average, "so I think we'll show up and be ready to play." Although this is the first postseason appearance since a sectional win in 1995, many of the current Tigers have some experience with winning championships. Several who embody the heart and soul of this team, including left fielder Kellan Foster, catcher Drew Blake, right fielder Chris Deming, second baseman Trent Thompson, outfielder Perry Sewell, pitcher Drew Clark and Penn, were members of the 1998 Nevada 13-year-old Little League state champions. And they draw on that experience. Said Foster, "We always expected to do this our senior year, (because) of the success we had when we were younger. And when the season got underway and we were struggling a little bit, we always thought we'd fight through it and at this time of the year, we'd be winning like we are now." On the three-straight district champion opponent, Beshore said, "They're very well-coached. They have exceptional defense, very strong one-through-nine hitting and their pitching is good, but it may be their weak spot, because they're so good everywhere else. They've got a lot of power and are really aggressive on the basepaths. We've really got our work cut out for us. "But the kids are excited and we had probably our best week of practice in my three years as head coach. We're hitting the ball better than we ever have. We're swinging the bats with a lot of confidence right now." One Nevada player is facing an interesting dilemna. Blake is slated to play in the Southwest Missouri Coaches Association all-star game on June 6, but should the Tigers advance, they will be playing baseball in the state semifinals on that day. But it's a no-brainer for Blake. He said, "If that happens, I'll play baseball because the football game's just a personal reward-type thing and this is a team effort and would be the farthest we've ever gone." The Tigers will leave Nevada today at 11 a.m., then stop at the Mickey Owen Baseball School, Miller, Mo., for batting practice about 1 p.m., before departing for Branson for the 6:30 contest. Beshore was a former student and counselor at the Mickey Owen School. "It's been a fun week of practice," said Beshore. "The kids are working extremely hard; they're excited and staying focused. It's neat to see them have this much fun."

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