Senior A.J. Calhoon struck out 11 batters in his first-ever varsity start to lead Republic to a 9-3 win in its season opener at Branson Monday. The victory was not only the first of the season, it was also the first under new head coach Curt Plotner, who took over the program after Howard Quigley’s retirement.
“It’s about the kids. It’s not about me,” says Plotner. “They’re the ones who go out there and play. I always tell them practice is my time, and the game is their time.”
Plotner says many of the things they’ve worked on in the off-season showed up during the win Monday, including more aggressive base running.
“We stole one base clean, but we probably had four or five dirt ball reads where we took the extra base,” he says. “We were aggressive on a ground ball to third that Easton got jammed on, and Nick got a great break and scored easy on a ball he probably shouldn’t have.”
Republic scored its first run on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Crosswhite in the second inning, and led 2-0 when Crosswhite came up again in the third. With the bases loaded, he laced a double to the fence to drive in three more.
“The biggest thing was it was a two-strike at bat, and he didn’t get down on himself. He hit the ball in the gap and scored three runs, and I think that was where we kind of broke the game open,” Plotner says. “It was 2-0, and he got it to five, then we just kept taking on. So it was a big swing by him in that spot.”
Meanwhile, starter A.J. Calhoon was cruising. He struck out the side in the first inning and again in the fourth. Branson didn’t score until the bottom of the sixth, when they reached Calhoon and reliever Cameron Beck for three runs on three base hits.
“A.J. was phenomenal,” Plotner said. “Everything that he’s worked for, he deserved everything he got tonight. He’s a kid that played JV most of the year last year as a junior, and I kept hearing all these strides he’d been making from other people. Then two weeks ago, when he got on the mound, I was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got something here.’ And he was fantastic.”
Calhoon says the cold, windy weather didn’t bother him when he was on the mound.
“I didn’t really feel it when I was out there, because I had a bunch of adrenaline pumping. But it was definitely pretty cold. I had my jacket on whenever I could in the dugout,” Calhoon says.
He started with a heavy reliance on his fastball, then adjusted as the game went on.
“The fastball was really good, especially early in the game. I was able to get it by most hitters,” he says. “Then the velocity started to drop a little bit later in the game, so I was able to mix speeds really well and get a lot of soft contact, and the defense played really well behind me.”
Landin Sigman had two hits for the Tigers, including a double that missed clearing the fence for a home run by about two feet. He also drove in two runs.
Republic improves to 1-0. The Tigers play in their home opener Tuesday.
