A year ago, a total of 333 high school baseball players from all over Missouri celebrated an all-state award.

Jace Ellis and Travis Hill were part of that large group.
Ellis and Hill were named on the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 3 all-state team after helping the Montgomery County Wildcats finish with their first winning season since 2019. Ellis earned second-team outfielder honors, while Hill was named honorable mention infielder.

Ellis and Hill were members of a Class 3 all-state team that included their teammates, Ethan Rakers and Evan Abercrombie. Rakers was named first-team catcher and Abercrombie was selected honorable mention pitcher. Both Rakers and Abercrombie graduated last year.

“Us four in that group made me happy,” Hill said. “I was proud of all four of us.”

This spring, Ellis and Hill hope to turn in another strong season for the Wildcats. They are among seven returning starters from the 2022 team that lost to South Callaway in the district semifinals and finished 10-8. Hill is a senior and Ellis is a junior.

“I was really excited for the year,” Ellis said. “I want big things. I didn’t like the way things ended last year. I want us to win more games than we did (last year).”

The Wildcats took a 4-2 record into their home game against Bowling Green on April 11. They have a road game against Clopton on April 13. MCHS won its first four games of the season before losing to Southern Boone on April 1.

“Everybody’s hitting, everybody’s playing defense and we’re not making errors,” Ellis said. “If we keep playing as a team, we can win a lot of games this year.”

Ellis was one of 10 sophomores who earned all-state honors in Class 3 last year. There were a total of 52 players named to the Class 3 all-state team.

“I did what I needed to do to help the team win, so it ended up with me being all-state at the end of the year and that’s what happened,” Ellis said. “We had a lot of guys get a lot of postseason awards last year and I just happened to be one of them.”

Ellis credits his off-season work for his outstanding season last spring.

“I spent a lot of time outside of high school baseball season playing baseball,” Ellis said. “I would go all over the country all summer playing. Then, I would practice all winter. I usually have like three to four hours of practice a week, even outside the regular high school season. I spent a lot of hours hitting and a lot of hours pitching. I spent a lot of hours in the weight room.”

Hill said he found out about his honor from MCHS coach Vince Wolk. He was one of 20 juniors receiving all-state notice.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that,” Hill said. “It was pretty cool.”

Hill said his strong hitting was one of the main reasons he was named to the all-state team.

“Last year, I really focused on hitting and technique,” said Hill, who is getting an apprenticeship to join the Independent Electrical Contractors of Greater St. Louis next year. “It paid off. I batted almost .400.”

Both Ellis and Hill finished with outstanding football seasons last fall. Hill was a second-team all-Eastern Missouri Conference selection at wide receiver, while Ellis was named to the Missouri Football Coaches Association academic all-state team.