North Callaway’s seniors have been together through wins, losses and countless fun moments on a baseball field.

North Callaway Baseball Senior Night Photo Gallery

Five Thunderbirds played their final regular season game on their home field in Auxvasse on May 14 and walked off happy with a 4-3 nine-inning win over Silex (9-7, 7-3 EMO). North Callaway (18-5, 10-0 EMO) clinched its second straight undefeated Eastern Missouri Conference season before the state-ranked Class 3 team went into districts with the No. 1 seed.

Senior Keaton Bell’s fourth walk of the game pushed across the winning run after the future William Woods pitcher threw three innings with four strikeouts and two hits. His longtime battery mate and future Westminster College player Carter Moore pitched six innings with seven strikeouts, six hits, three unearned runs and two walks before that.

“We have one of the best pitching squads in the state,” Bell said about the back-to-back undefeated conference seasons. “It’s a good last game here for the regular season.”

“The team started to come together these last two years,” Moore said. “Our freshmen and sophomore years, we had athletes but weren’t playing as a team. These past two years, we’ve really grown together and started to play well as a team.”

Senior CJ Cunningham had one RBI, senior Caleb Sheets had a double and senior Justice Moore had one hit and a two-out walk right before Bell's winning walk.

Head coach Kirt Kleindienst has been the head coach in these past two seasons but has a longer history with some of the Thunderbirds. Kleindienst coached their youth baseball club, the Callaway Crew, and started coaching the kids when they were around 8 years old. 

Kleindienst played baseball earlier in his life, but he said he wasn’t sure he wanted to coach the game until Carter Moore’s father, Dustin, approached him. He said he and Caleb Sheets’ father, Logan, coached kids like Bell, Moore, Cunningham and Sheets for the next five summers until they began high school.

“He said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a good group of guys, and we just need to lock it all in together,’” Kleindienst said.  “As they grew, I grew. I feel like I grew into myself as they grew up, and it led to better things for me and my family. They are my family. I love them like they’re my own.”

Kleindienst said his go-to lineup that has Bell on the mound, Carter Moore catching and Caleb Sheets in center field hasn’t changed since they were 12 years old. The message, sometimes, in those many mound visits hasn’t changed either.

“We almost know what each other is thinking,” Kleindienst said. “Sometimes, I’m coming out, and Carter’s like, ‘I know.’ Being able to communicate without using words is a special thing not many coaches have with their players.”

After separating for a while, Moore said reuniting with Kleindienst and having the old Callaway Crew back together has been a great way to end their high school careers. He said he certainly doesn’t mind bringing the community into the crew.

“The community we have is what makes me the happiest about being a Thunderbird,” Moore said. “We had a great crowd tonight. Everybody is starting to come in, and it is nice.”

Bell said it has been great to be part of a tight-knit group for many years that has turned into a family.

“It’s really great to be part of a team,” Bell said. “You know these guys got your back, and you’ve got theirs.”

Kleindienst said he didn’t want this season to end after winning last week because that means he will say goodbye for good as their coach. However, he said takes some solace knowing he has some Crew members left like juniors Chance Green and Tucker Sheets and others even younger.

Green went 2-for-4 with one run and one walk. Tucker Sheets was credited for all three outs during the sixth inning against Silex that included a backhand stop down the third-base line and a double play he turned after catching a liner and doubling off the runner at first base.

“Now my little Crew are freshmen, so I’ve got a second batch of them coming up now,” Kleindienst said.

Even relatively new faces like Carson Bassett, who transferred from Hickman before this season, has integrated nicely on a field and in the dugout. Bassett, who Kleindienst said is a kid that “doesn’t let the moment overwhelm him,” made a throw from right field on the fly to Moore so a Silex runner could be tagged out at the plate and keep the game tied at 3 in the seventh inning. 

“I just want to finish the year strong,” Kleindienst said. “I’m glad we ended up being undefeated in conference play. It was one of our goals, and we made it.”