As usual, Van-Far could rely on Reece Culwell on the mound.

Van-Far Senior Night Photo Gallery

The Indians defeated Sturgeon 5-1 on Monday in Farber in a rematch of Van-Far’s district championship victory a season ago and were led by their senior pitcher. Culwell pitched seven innings with eight strikeouts, five hits, one walk and one unearned run on 82 pitches in seven innings to lead Van-Far to its 11th win — a program record according to head coach Cameron Huff.

“I stuck with fastball,” Culwell said. “I had some curveballs that hit and had some that didn’t. I struggled locating early, but fastball is definitely what I stuck with.”

Culwell was one of five seniors — along with Carson Huff, Malik and Tyson Douglas and Layne Varner — honored after the game and has been with the program all four years. In the two years Huff has coached Culwell, this is the performance he has come to expect from his No. 1 pitcher.

“He was pumping strikes,” Huff said. “That’s what we need, and that’s what he’s been. That’s not a surprise coming from Reece. He’s been that all season and last season. That;s just who he is.”

At the plate, Culwell went 2-for-3 with one RBI. Ronnie Stanich had two RBIs for Van-Far (11-7) against Sturgeon (7-10), Garrett Hopke went 2-for-3 with two runs and two stolen bases, and senior Carson Huff had one RBI.

Van-Far won two games in Culwell’s freshman year and then one game in his sophomore year. In his junior season, the Indians won nine games along with a district championship and secured their 11th victory and counting in his senior season. 

“It means a lot to me to be part of the program,” Culwell said. “Going from not very good to winning nine this year and 11 so far this year, the teamwork is a big thing. Tonight, I didn’t have too many strikeouts. I relied on my defense heavily, and they made outs for me.”

The roster increase over the past two years under Huff has brought Culwell plenty of teammates he said can be relied upon. This includes transfers who have played big roles for the Indians during that time like Carson Huff and Malik and Tyson Douglas.

Culwell said Huff has been “one of the best first basemen” in the Eastern Missouri Conference after not playing baseball for years going into last season. He said the Douglas twins have a “no fly zone” in the outfield while bringing so many more tools they use on the football field. 

“The transfers have definitely been a helpful thing to this program,” Culwell said.

Cameron Huff said he liked how Van-Far had nine hits to follow 10 hits from a 8-7 loss on Thursday at Christian Fellowship in Columbia. The game before that, the Indians had three hits in a 5-1 loss at conference and district foe Silex during a stretch they went 3-3 going into Senior Night.

“Our boys adjusted to the very slow pitching that we saw,” Huff said. “We’re making solid contact like Malik had one of the hardest ground balls I’ve seen all year and the second baseman threw him out. (Gibson) Condie had a lineout to first base early in the game. Things happen.”

While Huff said he is proud of how Van-Far has 11 wins, he said the team can’t be satisfied with just that. Districts are coming up soon, and he would like to see the Indians play to their fullest potential as “one of the best Class 2 teams out there.” Huff said he had the players arrive at the ballpark at 3 p.m. to talk for an hour about how Van-Far can “flip the switch” before districts and play with “grit, grind and effort.”

Huff said there aren’t many walks being taken as Van-Far walked once against Sturgeon, twice against Silex and three times in an 11-1 loss to conference foe Montgomery County. He said the Indians can be better at the plate.

“Last week, we played Silex, and we faced an efficient pitcher and found ourselves in a lot of 1-2 and 0-2 counts,” Huff said. “We have to be efficient early on in the count as a hitter.”

Culwell said it has “definitely helped” the team after seeing a lot more pitches in the batting cage off the pitching machine. Huff said he knows the team led by his seniors will continue to work hard.

“The seniors are really going to be missed,” Huff said. “I’m super proud of them, and they’re all going to do wonderful things in their lives. The door’s always open even once they’re gone.”