The single-season wins record for Missouri Military Academy was really old.

The Colonels hadn’t won nine games since 1969 but matched that total on Monday after a 10-6 victory at Marion County. MMA exploded with an eight-run sixth inning that included five RBI hits from underclassmen.

Trailing 5-2 after the fifth inning, sophomore Caleb Atkinson hit a RBI double to begin the scoring for the Colonels, freshman Michael Moss came through with a RBI single for the 6-5 lead, sophomore Luke Wolf doubled to plate two runs for an 8-5 advantage, freshman Noah Garcia added a RBI single and finally Atkinson made it 10-5 on his second run-scoring hit of the inning. Those players combined for six RBI, six runs scored and two doubles, giving the program something to smile about for years in the future, head coach Thomas Roberts said. 

“If we had four or five wins, we would have done well as young as we are,” Roberts said. “They’re good players. Next year, if I can keep them coming back, we’ll be really tough.”

MMA’s infield is the youngest area on the team but has talented players like Moss and Garcia in the middle infield and Wolf spending some time there. The next night in a tight 4-2 loss at Community R-6, Garcia came through with a two-RBI to give the Colonels a 2-1 lead at the time.

“(Garcia) had a big hit in last night’s game and had an awesome foul ball catch as he ran into the fence to make a play on it,” Roberts said. “He’s just a freshman, but he’s making leaps and bounds. He’s got a really bright future.”

In the previous three years, MMA had won a combined eight games but have eclipsed that total just this year while scoring 6.8 runs per game for a Colonel offense’s highest output since 2009 at 8.3 runs per game. 

The pitching staff led by juniors William Delaplane and Hunter Manderson and senior Anthony Melick has allowed 7.4 runs per game, which is a four-year low for the program.

“It’s been three years of me basically working a lot on offseason stuff and getting prepared, but it’s also got a lot to do with the kids buying into what I’ve asked them to do,” Roberts said. “They want to play. They can’t stand rain days or days off because they want to be on the field. If you’ve got kids that want to play and want to practice, it makes a huge difference.” 

Nine wins and beyond certainly seems achievable now, Roberts said, as the program along with other sports has had support from the top of the academy so winning is becoming an expectation.

“The president of the university [Brigadier General Richard V. Geraci, USA (Ret)] is a very huge supporter of our sports programs,” Roberts said. “He loves baseball, he loves track, he loves all the sports and he really wants us to win, of course, because it represents the school well. We want to build our program continuously. Winning programs produce people coming to the school.”