Van-Far baseball needs to grow accustomed to rough competition past districts.

Van-Far vs Schuyler County Photo Gallery

Head coach Cameron Huff said the Indians needed to grind for its first district championship since 2018 and will need to do so further in future seasons if they want to advance further. Their season ended May 20 with a 17-0 three-inning loss at Schuyler County in Queen City in the sectional round.

Huff said Schuyler County, who won its district after upsetting the second-ranked team in the state Putnam County 1-0, is a disciplined team at the plate. Van-Far had a stream of pitchers going to the mound, totaling four before game’s end, and combined to walk nine Rams.

“They foul and work pitch counts, which makes it difficult, especially when you’re calling pitches,” Huff said. “They foul off a curveball, they foul off a fastball and then they foul off another fastball. They take a close pitch, and the next thing you know, you groove a fastball over the plate because the pitcher’s frustrated after throwing three or four pitches in a row that are good pitches.”

Schuyler County tallied 12 hits and had a majority of them accounted for by the top three hitters in their order. Kale Windy, Elliott Sevits and Gage Brownell combined to go 7-for-10 with nine RBI and three extra-base hits, including a triple and double from Sevits and a double from Brownell.

Schuyler County led 1-0 after the first inning but then took firmer control 8-0 after the second inning as the Indians started making more errors and walking more hitters. The margin grew more as Van-Far brought in pitcher after pitcher until the four they used combined to walk nine Rams.

“I haven’t seen us play in the field like that in three-ish weeks,” Huff said. “Our boys have to adjust something we’re going to work on in the offseason — hitting our spots. I noticed tonight, if we didn’t hit our spot, we didn’t get the call, which is how it should be. If our pitcher can’t execute the location, why should we get a strike?”

Huff said situations like how this season ended can be tough to handle in the field and especially on the mound. No. 1 pitcher Reece Culwell started the game but encountered similar location issues as every Indian did.

“I kept telling (our pitchers) that they have to figure it out,” Huff said. “Nobody else is out there with them on the bump throwing pitches. At the end of the day, you have to trust your defense even if they’re making errors. Pitch to contact and hit your spots and good things will happen.”

Looking back on this season, Huff said there was some optimism early despite the Indians coming off one win a year ago. The roster grew from about nine to around 20 kids, including junior transfer siblings Malik and Tyson Douglas and Huff’s younger junior brother Carson. Carson Huff and Malik Douglas made the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team this season, and they and Tyson Douglas all owned a batting average above .300.

Cameron Huff said he was grateful that he had those kids this year and looks forward to bringing in new faces in the future as he continues to grow the program. Van-Far jumped to nine wins for its most since 10 victories in its previous district championship season in 2018. That doesn’t mean baseball will get any easier.

“They’re going to come out because we won districts, and they’re going to have to realize it’s not easy,” Huff said. “These 16 boys this year that played fought and grinded for everything they’ve gotten. If those kids come out, they’re going to have to fight and grind as well.”

Huff said his sales pitch before the season was basically, ‘What do you have to lose?’ He wanted any athletes to give the sport a shot to see what they could bring to the program. 

Now another district title is in Van-Far’s trophy case, Huff admitted he could simply point to that in his future sales pitch, but he also wants to clear he isn’t satisfied with that. To defeat teams like Schuyler County, he said the Indians have to improve to where they can go toe-to-toe with the competition they would see in a state tournament.

“We’re obviously not where we need to be, but Rome wasn’t built overnight,” Huff said. “It’s going to be huge next year coming off a district championship. You’re going to have a target on your back. I told the guys — for the ones that are coming back — ‘remember this feeling, remember the taste of the game and remember the feeling you had now.’ We have to grind in the offseason.”