Perryville and St. Vincent baseball adjust from tornado aftermath, prepare for potentially positive season

PERRYVILLE — Instead of getting ready to travel to Ste. Genevive on Saturday, March 15, players and coaches from both the Perryville and St. Vincent baseball teams took cover with the rest of their community as Perry County was assaulted by weather.

Thunderstorms and tornadoes left a trail of damage that destroyed homes and left a mark on the Perryville school buildings. The damage to the baseball fields has thrown a wrench in how both teams will start the season, and both coaches had perspectives regarding the matter.

"Whatever problems we have, all you have to do is look around and go, ‘Dude, there are people who have way worse than us," Perryville head coach Don O’Keefe said. "So whatever we have to adjust to, we do.

"In the grand scheme of life, me getting a bucket of baseballs is a lot easier than worrying about a hotel, house or a life."

Fortunately for the players and their families, their houses saw minimal damage. But not everyone else in town was so fortunate. Perryville city administrator Brent Buerck told the Southeast Missourian that homes, with rooves torn off from the wind and the city park, "took a lot of hits.”

"It’s a mess," St. Vincent head coach Corey Sauer said. "I feel for those guys. For us, everybody’s been good. No damage to my knowledge. At least it’s been a good blessing."

Sauer said a group came in to help clean up the damage to the ballpark at the Perry Park Center but it will be "a couple weeks" before the Indians can start the season in their friendly confides.

"It’s tough anytime your home ballpark gets destroyed like that," Sauer said. "It kind of takes a hit when you don’t know when you’re going to get another home game. Those seniors are itching to play. We got to play on the road for the first couple of weeks, but we’ll be fine. I mean, we practiced on it already, and since it was fairly clean, hopefully, we can get it back in shape pretty quickly."

O’Keefe said Ste. Genevieve was not just the host of the preseason jamboree Tuesday, March 18, but also friendly neighbors who provided a temporary home for practices and equipment for them to use during games.

The originally scheduled home opener against Crystal City has been switched to a road game Friday, March 21. There is optimism the Pirates will return to their repaired ship sooner than later.

"Our hopes are that they give us the OK sometime close to this weekend," O’Keefe said. "The dugout roofs are gone. There is a tree that landed on our fence in right field, but we can figure that stuff out and be able to clean it up. But it’d be nice just to be back in our own home."

Sharpen the spears

Weather aside, both teams are optimistic toward their outlook this season. Both the Pirates and Indians expect to ride their upperclass arms to above .500 seasons and make a potential run in their respective district tournament.

The Indians have continuity on their side as each of their pitchers from the previous year are back.

"I return almost every inning I had on the mound last year," Sauer said.

Nick Buchheit threw a complete game shutout against Puxico in the Class 2 District 3 Tournament last year and is expected to be the co-ace of the staff alongside fellow senior Jake Seabaugh.

"He does a great job of commanding the strike zone," Sauer said. "He’s always been a strike thrower with his fastball. He can throw three, four pitches for strikes. He’s gonna be out there a lot more."

Buchheit and Seabaugh are what Sauer considers two aces, "that I can throw out there, and they can handle anybody on our schedule."

"That is what I’m going to consider a strength for us," Sauer said. "It’s going to be on the mound."

Fire the cannons

The Pirates also have a pair of potent arms to throw out on the mound this season. Chief among them is O’Keefe’s senior son, Troy O’Keefe.

Troy is coming off a stellar junior season in which he recorded a 1.12 ERA and batted .420 on his way to finishing as a Semoball Awards finalist. O’Keefe expects a much improved version of his son, who is committed to playing at Southwest Tennessee Community College next season.

"Troy really kind of bought into the pitching thing this whole winter," coach O’Keefe said. "That’s a kid that I think by the time we’re sitting in May, I think you’re looking at a 90-91 mph kid with a lot of movement."

Behind Troy is junior Waylon Huber, who coach O’Keefe identifies as a pitcher who can get through games quickly by getting opposing batters to hit ground balls to the infield, featuring seniors Dalton Fritchie and Ty Peeler, who saw their junior seasons cut short by injury.

The linchpin behind the Pirates pitching staff and lineup is junior catcher Barrett Wheeler, who is in his third season behind the plate.

"I will tell you behind the plate, I was really caught off guard how much I thought he improved this year already," O’Keefe said. "So you’re talking about a kid that I think is a legit three-hole hitter now and I think catching wise, there’s times that he catches the ball and he makes you go, ‘That was a strike.' I mean, he’s getting that good with how he’s framing and he’s doing all these things growing up."