Don Moultrie couldn’t have asked for a better way to make his return as Montgomery County baseball coach on March 15.

The Wildcats defeated St. Charles 13-8 at CarShield Park in O’Fallon to begin their 2024 season and start Moultrie’s second stint as MCHS coach. He coached the program from 2006-2018.

“They lit it up,” Moultrie said. “They came out with high energy and they were hitting the ball. They were running. It was amazing energy. They came out and they were being positive.”

On March 21, Moultrie had another reason to celebrate. His Wildcats cruised past Linn 12-1 in five innings in their home opener.

“It was good because we were struggling for a while there,” Moutrie said. “We didn’t do very well for two games in a row.”

Now, the Wildcats are hoping to celebrate Moultrie’s return with their third straight winning season. MCHS has 14 returning players from the 2023 team that won 14 games and finished with a share of the Eastern Missouri Conference title with Elsberry.

“I have super high expectations,” Moultrie said. “Sometimes I probably have too many or too high expectations, but I have to be more patient. I know they were coming off winning the conference last year and losing two players. So my high expectations are high as far as what we do in conference and what we do in districts.”

The Wildcats improved to 2-3 with the win over Linn. They were scheduled to play Silex in their EMO opener on March 25 at home. They have a conference road game against Mark Twain on March 28.

Jace Ellis, Jake Stellwagen, Dayton Simmons, Bryson Hoffmann and Mason Leu make up the senior class. Last year, Ellis was named on the all-state team for the second year in a row and earned all-district honors and Leu was named on both the all-conference and all-district teams.

The juniors are Jacob Hogue, Burke King, Bryson Nichols and Zack Welker. Hogue had two hits against Linn.

Noah Beck, Landyn Bender, Chase Queathem, Edwin Garcia, Seth Walton, Adrian Combs, Mac Farrar and Colby Ellis are the sophomores.

Garcia, who earned all-district honors last year, got the win on the mound against Linn, striking out four, giving up two hits and allowing no earned runs.

“He did a great job,” Moultrie said. “In his first outing, he was a little shaky here and there, but today he stayed around the strike zone. He threw 70-plus pitches. He had command and he did a great job. That’s the person I expect to see anyway. He’s a good pitcher.”

Reed Pottebaum is the only freshman on the roster.

Besides his 12-year stint at MCHS, Moultrie also coached at Wellsville-Middletown and at schools in South Carolina and Colorado.

This year, Moultrie replaced Vince Wolk as MCHS coach. He said he’s thrilled to be back in the Wildcats’ dugout.

“I’ve got a good group of kids,” said Moultrie, who works as an assistant coach for the MCHS softball team during the fall season. “I enjoy it. I come to work every day. I look forward to it. I can’t say that about all of my years of coaching. With this group of kids, I enjoy coaching them.”

Against Linn, the Wildcats scored two runs in the first, two in the fourth and eight in the fifth. The game ended on a two-run, inside-the-park home run by Simmons.

MCHS is hosting the Class 3, District 6 tournament this year. Bowling Green, Elsberry, Mark Twain and Hermann are the other teams in the event.