After just four weeks, the Wellsville-Middletown baseball season is off to a good start.

The Tigers have already tripled their win total of two from last year, getting wins over New Bloomfield, New Haven, Clopton, Louisiana, Van-Far and Marion County.

Now, they’re just hoping to keep winning games as they approach the halfway point of April.

“They’re having a blast right now,” first-year W-M coach Alex Thull said. “The morale is very high. They know that any day that Dylan (Alsop) and (Mason) Guzy are on the mound, they need to win the game. They bring it every day in practice. I’ve been really happy with how the kids have responded after having a down year (in 2022) and returning almost everybody (from last year). We are playing really well together right now.”

W-M took a 6-2 record into its road game against Elsberry on April 17. 

W-M had its four-game winning streak snapped on April 6 after losing 18-0 to North Callaway at home. The Tigers dropped to 3-1 in Eastern Missouri Conference play.

“We knew that this was a very good team going into that game,” Thull said. “North Callaway is doing very well right now and beating a lot of the top teams. They upset Bowling Green, who was the conference champ last year. So they’re playing very well. We knew it was going to be a rough one for us. Not everything broke our way, but we played hard. We never gave up. We had fun.”

Thull said pitching has been one of the main reasons for the Tigers’ excellent start. Alsop, an all-EMO selection from last year, pitched a 2-0 victory over Louisiana and tied a school record for most strikeouts in a game with 18. Guzy, who is continuing his baseball career at Hannibal-LaGrange University next year, had victories over Clopton and Van-Far. Both Alsop and Guzy are seniors.

"The pitching has carried us,” Thull said.

The Tigers have been getting some strong offensive contributions from sophomore Brennan Cash and senior CJ Curd. Cash has been the Tigers’ top leadoff hitter after six games, while Curd hit a home run against Marion County.
W-M scored 33 in eight games.

“We need to be more consistent (on offense),” Thull said. “The tops get on base, then we struggle past the No. 4 hole from time to time.”

W-M began its season on March 20 with a 7-3 loss to Community R-6. The game was moved to Community due to wet field conditions at W-M.

“We had one inning where we had an error,” Thull said. “Then, Mason Carroll hit that two-run homer. But it was a much closer game than it looked on paper. It was the first game. We had some jitters. The hitting was hit and miss. We came out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and it looked good, but we couldn’t keep the hitting going after that.”

The Tigers not only have a new coach, but they also have new uniforms this season.

“We were due for new uniforms this year,” said Thull, who replaced Justin Caldwell as coach. “The black ones are still in great shape. I really like the black ones, so I want us to keep wearing those.”