Joplin’s game against Pittsburg didn’t end up in favor of the Eagles, but the program had plenty to celebrate anyway.
On Saturday, Joplin baseball welcomed back several former players and coaches on the field prior to first pitch to honor them on Alumni Day. Highlighting the festivities, the 2001 state champion Eagles were recognized with it being the 20th anniversary of their title run.
Coached by Kirk Harryman, Joplin defeated Neosho and Kickapoo in district play before scoring seven runs in the top of seventh inning in a 7-3 sectional win over Lebanon. In the quarterfinals, Joplin breezed past Columbia Hickman 7-5 before earning a narrow 1-0 win over Eureka in the semifinal round. Joplin capped the six-game playoff run with a 2-0 win over Francis Howell North to capture the state title.
“It was awesome to see those guys,” Joplin coach Kyle Wolf said. “I was kind of looking forward to this day just to see those guys come out to the park. Those guys have a great tradition. … That is a tough group of guys who found a way to get it done in 2001. It was exciting to see them. I was happy we got them out here. I just wish we could have played a little bit better for them.”
On the diamond, the cooler weather limited the scoring opportunities. But it was the Dragons (6-3) who took advantage when presented, scoring single tallies in the second, third and fifth innings before holding off the Eagles (11-5) in the seventh for a 3-1 win.
“Pittsburg took advantage of the opportunities in front of them,” Wolf said. “They did a good job of getting a guy on, getting him over and getting him in. We didn’t. At the end of the day, you credit (Pittsburg starting pitcher Cooper Hayden) because he pounded the zone and put pressure on us. We didn’t make the adjustments we needed.”
ON THE MOUND
Cooper Hayden earned the win for Pittsburg, allowing one unearned run in a complete-game effort. He allowed 11 hits, walked two and struck out five in seven innings.
“I thought Cooper was great,” Pittsburg coach Keith Matlock said. “Anytime he is on the mound, we know he is going to compete for us. He keeps us in the game and gives us a chance as long as we do things behind him.”
Justin McReynolds made his first career start and allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits, two walks and six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. Josh Harryman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and walking one.
“It was his first varsity start of his career and I thought he went out and threw extremely well,” Wolf said of McReynolds. “He competed in the zone. He got some big outs when he needed to. At the end of the day, it should be a confidence builder for him. It certainly was for us because he can go out and do a good job for us in that role. He threw well enough to give us a chance to win.”
GAME ACTION
Pittsburg’s Cole Jameson put the first run on the scoreboard with an RBI single through the left side in the top of the second to give the Dragons a 1-0. Blaine Dunstan singled earlier in the frame before moving to third on a Joplin error, setting up the RBI opportunity.
“It started with our first at-bat,” Matlock said. “Our guys have really been locked in the last couple of weeks. They are starting to get a realization of where they’re at in the order and doing some situational things. I have been really proud of them.”
The Dragons pushed the lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning after Tyler Sutton doubled to center field before coming around to score on an RBI groundout from Braden Benson.
Hayden doubled to right-center to lead off the Pittsburg half of the fifth inning and came around to score on an RBI single to left by Jackson Turnbull to make the score 3-0.
“That was big,” Matlock said about his team adding insurance runs. “We even tried to bunt a little bit there late to get another one because (Joplin) is a good baseball team. I never felt comfortable up 3-0. … Just being able to scratch out those three, I was really proud of them.”
Joplin, which stranded 10 runners on base in the loss, had runners on second and third in the last of the seventh with two outs when David Fiscus came up with an infield hit to the shortstop, driving home a run. On the play, after the throw to first was late, PHS ended the game following a follow-up throw to the plate to nail the second runner trying to score at home to end the game.
“We had opportunities,” Wolf said. “Between base running errors and mistakes, maybe the approach at the plate of trying to do too much, but, again, credit to (Hayden) for making big pitches in big spots. Our guys, throughout the course of the year, have shown they can come up with those hits in those situations. We just couldn’t do it today.”
IN THE BOX
Hayden and Turnbull each had two hits to lead the Dragons at the plate. Turnbull, Benson and Jameson all finished with an RBI, while Sutton, Dunstan and Brandon Freeman each scored a run.
Fiscus led Joplin with three hits and an RBI, including a double, while Alex Curry and Ethan Guilford each added two hits. Bodee Carlson had one hit, a walk and scored a run.
Coming out of eighth grade, Joplin’s Fielding Campbell wanted to attempt a rare feat when it came to being a prep student-athlete—compete in two spring sports at the same time.
Now, as he hits the final stretch of his senior year as a member of the Joplin golf and baseball teams, Fielding has set the groundwork for his younger brother, Hobbs, a sophomore at Joplin, to do the same thing.
PAVING THE WAY
Growing up, Fielding always had a deep passion for the game of baseball as well as a love for golf. With his high school career drawing closer, Fielding, a Missouri Southern golf commit, still felt like baseball was his true love, but he said golf was his future. However, when it came time to choose between the two as the spring season approached during his freshman year at Joplin High School, he opted for a different route, dedicating his time to both.
“I knew I wanted to play both sports by the end of my eighth grade year,” Fielding said. “I wasn’t sure if the coaches were going to let me or not because I hadn’t seen or heard of anything done like that before. I’ve had such a passion for baseball my entire life, so I knew I wanted to continue playing that. And golf, I knew I could be good at it. I thought if the coaches agreed to give me the opportunity, I could succeed in both sports.”
Ultimately, it was decided that Fielding would be allowed to play both sports, with a slight emphasis on baseball. If Fielding didn’t have a golf tournament to play in, he was expected to be at a baseball practice or game. Which meant, much of his practice and preparation in golf would be on his own time.
“I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity,” Fielding said. “I did not think it would be possible because of all of the conflicts. The coaches explained to me how tough it would be. But, I knew it would be worth it in the end to be able to do both.”
Joplin’s Fielding Campbell fields a ball at shortstop during the Eagles’ win at Webb City. Photo by Israel Perez.
That confidence in himself as a freshman, very similar to the same Hobbs has for himself, was actually a big reason why Joplin baseball coach Kyle Wolf, golf coach Jack Pace and cross country/distance coach Dustin Dixon were able to come to an agreement on the Campbell brothers’ desire to play two sports in the spring.
“Fielding is an athlete, same way with Hobbs,” Pace said. “They are both very competitive. That is what you want to see. … They are both just very good athletes with good heads on their shoulders.”
“First and foremost, Fielding is a competitive kid,” Wolf said. “He really enjoys competing, testing himself and pushing his own limitations to see what he can accomplish. I think that competitiveness is what probably generated his interest in doing both sports in the spring. Over time, his discipline and his toughness probably have shown through.”
“He is a really competitive kid,” Dixon said of Hobbs. “Joplin High School athletics has been pretty successful on the boys side for the past four or five years. That is largely because we have had great athletes and there is not really a great substitute for athleticism. Hobbs Campbell is an example of that. He’s an athlete and is fiercely competitive.”
The biggest concern for all parties involved when Fielding first approached the idea of playing baseball and golf was the commitment it would take while still focusing the proper amount of time on school work. And to say it took some time to get used to the hectic schedule would be an understatement.
“It’s extremely busy,” Fielding said when asked about his schedule in the spring. “Some days, I’ll have to go to a golf tournament at 8:30 in the morning and then straight to a baseball game on the road. I’ll get back home at 9 at night and have three homework assignments to do.
“It was really difficult to get used to my freshman and sophomore year because I was just getting into it. Over time, it has gotten a lot easier. I have been able to manage my schedules a lot better.”
Now that Fielding — the Eagles’ starting shortstop as well as a two-time state golf tournament qualifier — is in the midst of his senior season, you could say he has grown accustomed to the chaos.
“I just love being around everybody,” Fielding said about his passion for baseball. “I have been playing with most of the players my entire life. The coaches are great. It is a really fun atmosphere on the baseball team.”
“I get to come out here and play golf with my friends who I have been playing with for years,” Fielding added about his time on the golf team. “I get to compete and win a lot of tournaments with them. It is a lot of fun.”
And fortunately for his younger brother, Fielding was more than willing to share his experiences and advice in order to help Hobbs transition as smoothly as possible.
“I talked with him about managing his time well,” Fielding said. “Plan ahead for everything and just compete hard. If you do your best in both sports and apply yourself in school, good things will happen.”
FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS
Though he is in his second year of high school, this is actually the first taste of playing two sports in the same season for Hobbs after his freshman year was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This year, I was really on the fence about which sport to play,” Hobbs said. “But, I had a really good cross country season, so I ended up running track. I knew I could (play two sports at once) because Fielding did it and was able to maintain his grades. I knew I could kind of follow in his footsteps.”
Before COVID brought the spring sports season to a grinding halt a year ago, Hobbs intended to split time between baseball and golf like his older brother. However, after the success he had in the cross country season this spring, a sport he initially was apprehensive about participating in at the high school level, Hobbs opted for participating in distance running for Joplin’s track and field team.
“In middle school, I ran a (four-minute, 49-second) mile and I won most of the meets, so I knew I was a pretty good distance runner. After that, my dad pretty much forced me to run cross country my freshman year,” Hobbs said with a laugh. “After that, I still really loved baseball and intended to play it my freshman year in the spring. But, I improved a lot in cross country from my freshman to sophomore year — I finished like 34th at the state meet — so I thought I could keep improving at cross country if I ran track this year.”
Joplin’s Hobbs Campbell (1) competes in the 1600 he went on to win in Friday’s Joplin Invitational. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Getting a firsthand look at what his brother accomplished as a student-athlete was inspirational for Hobbs. And while Fielding often gave advice on how to manage a second sport along with golf, Hobbs was particularly grateful for his brother’s wisdom in terms of the importance of the academic side.
“He definitely told me that he misses a ton of school over the spring, so I had to be able to catch up on school work whenever I could,” Hobbs said. “He told me it is a lot harder to maintain your grades over the spring than it was in any other season.”
“I go to track practices every day,” Hobbs said. “But there are so many golf matches and tournaments that, recently, I’ll go play golf in the morning and then run track after school at practice or for a meet. I just have to find a way to practice golf and get my homework done on my own time.”
THE SUM OF ALL EFFORTS
The success both Fielding and Hobbs have had as two-sport spring athletes is quite remarkable. The Joplin’s boys golf is off to a torrid start to the 2021 season, winning each of the first seven events the team has participated in to the point of the season. Plenty of that success is due to quality of play from both Fielding and Hobbs.
Fielding earned top medalist honors with a first-place six-over-par 78 in the Bird Dog Invitational, while Hobbs earned a top-10 finish with an 85 in the first tournament action of the season. In the Joplin Invitational, Fielding tied for third place with a 78 and Hobbs closed with an 81 to finish seventh. Hobbs finished in a tie for fourth (79) and Fielding placed in a tie for sixth (80) in the Eagles’ victory at the Horton Smith Invitational. In Joplin’s most-recent win at the Ozark Invitational, Fielding finished in second place with a 77, while Hobbs carded an 82 to place just outside the top 10.
“I love golf because it takes a lot of patience,” Hobbs said. “You have to think a lot about every shot. It takes a lot to get better.”
On the baseball diamond, Fielding is the starting shortstop and is hitting .328 on the season. On the mound, he has appeared in five games with four starts and has accumulated a 2.37 earned-run average.
“I think it is really amazing when I think about what he does,” Wolf said of Fielding. “This past Thursday, he tied for fourth in a golf tournament, hopped in a car to meet us and played a good baseball game in Branson for us. I don’t think people realize how much mental toughness that takes even above the physical component of it. … Baseball and golf are two of the most mentally demanding sports and he is able to compartmentalize a lot of things and have success in both. And he does a tremendous job of maintaining himself as a student. Quite honestly, he is a model student-athlete with what he does.”
To this point in the track and field season, Hobbs has limited participation because of weather postponing the team’s second scheduled meet of the season. However, in the first track meet of the year, Hobbs anchored the third-place finish by 4×800-relay team before winning the 1600-meter run and running a personal record in the 3200.
At Friday’s Joplin’s Invitational, Hobbs won two both the 1600 (4:25) and the 3200 (9:46).
“Hobbs comes from a long line of kids who’ve had pretty successful middle school campaigns running for Coach (Kenny) Peters at (Joplin) South,” Dixon said. “We have a pretty good group of cross country kids who have a chance to chase after a state trophy next season, and I think his teammates knew that so they put pressure on him and recruited him to run track. And my goodness, he is looking great right now. … I think he has the talent to be an all-state athlete in all three of his events.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING MULTIPLE SPORTS
Not only have Fielding and Hobbs found success in their respective spring sports, but the brothers have had success in other sports as well. Fielding and Hobbs were both members of the basketball program in the winter, while Hobbs also ran cross country in the spring and holds the sixth-fastest time in school history at 16:14.
Asked separately, both agreed being a multi-sport athlete is incredibly important in terms of their overall development as a student-athlete.
“It helps you out a lot mentally, really,” Hobbs said. “You just have to work hard. All of the sports I play have taught me that working hard can really bring you success.”
At the end of it all, Fielding and Hobbs being able to share those memories of playing together as brothers on the Joplin golf team will always produce special moments to look back on.
“It is really special,” Fielding said. “We have been playing together since I was seven years old. We used to go out every morning with our grandpa. We’ve been doing it every day for the past five or six years in the summer. It is just really fun for it to all come together.”
Webb City’s boys and girls both captured team championships at Friday’s Joplin Invitational track meet.
The Webb City boys topped the standings with 167.5 points. Joplin was a close second with 166. Either the Cardinals or the Eagles had the winner in all but four events.
Webb City’s Mekhi Garrard is pictured competing in the triple jump. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
The Webb City boys won seven events.
Claiming first-place finishes for Webb City’s boys were Mekhi Garrard (200, triple jump), Caleb Cook (110 hurdles), Gustavo Sabbag (300 hurdles), Luke Brumit (high jump), Pryce Mason and Grayson Smith (pole vault tie) and Zetthew Meister (discus).
Finishing second in their events were Roman Borboa (3200), Sabbag (110 H), and Garrard (long jump).
Webb City’s 4×800 relay team of Owen Weller, Borboa, Joseph Dawson and Samuel Winesburg finished second.
Taking third were Cook (300 H) and Matt McDaniel (high jump).
The Cardinals were fourth in the 4×100 (William Headrick, Joshua White, Jordan Thornburg, Isaiah Brisco) and fourth in the 4×400 (Brumit, Mason, Cook, Jacob Shonk).
Webb City’s girls compiled 129 points, eight more than second-place Nevada.
Event winners for the Webb City girls were Essence Robinson (100-meter dash), Riley Hawkins (400) and Haidyn Berry (javelin).
Finishing second in their events were Abi Street (3200), Emily Beres (shot put, discus), Robinson (long jump) and Dawsyn Decker (javelin).
Webb City’s 4×800 relay team of Alanna Bundy, Hawkins, Street and Lauren Kuechler took second. The 4×400 relay team of Kylie Jennings, Maci Brown, Hawkins and Robinson finished third.
Third-place individuals were Kaylyn Gilbert (shot put, discus), Bundy (800) and Kuechler (1600), while Ripley Shanks was fourth in the pole vault.
CARL JUNCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Carl Junction’s girls won five events and finished fifth in the team standings with 98 points.
Carl Junction’s Shiloh Sluders heads to the finish line first in the 100-meter dash. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
The Bulldogs took first in the 4×100 relay (50.68), with Olivia Vediz, Ally Montez, Salma Lewis and Shiloh Sluder competing.
Montez won both the 100-meter hurdles (15.97) and the 300 hurdles (48.14), while Sluder won the 100-meter dash (12.91) and Emerson Lundien won the pole vault.
Vediz finished third in both the 100 and the triple jump, while Brooklyn Meyer was fourth in the high jump, Riley Briggs took fourth in the 800 and Loren Lee placed fourth in the discus.
For the CJ boys, Brendan Jewell was second in the high jump.
Collin Emmert placed third in the 3200 and sixth in the 1600. Drew Patterson took sixth in the 110 hurdles.
CARTHAGE HIGHLIGHTS
Carthage’s girls won the 4×200 relay in 1:55, with Katie Crowe, Sydnee Dudolski, Ashlynn Patrick and Karly Sullivan competing.
The 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams featuring the same four runners both finished second.
Kennedy Smith and Joey Hettinger finished second and third, respectively, in the high jump, while Smith was the runner-up in the triple jump and placed fourth in the long jump.
Morelia Reyes-Perez finished sixth in the 800 and seventh in the 1600, while Hadley McBride took seventh in the 3200.
For the Carthage boys, Caleb Calvin won the javelin and teammate Dennis Witt was third.
Aiden Logan was the runner-up in the shot put and also took sixth in the discus.
NEOSHO HIGHLIGHTS
Neosho’s girls finished third in the team standings with 102.5 points.
Freshman Riley Kemna won the 3200 in 12:10, while Bailey Miller was the runner-up in the 800 and the pole vault. Jayden Browning won the triple jump.
The NHS girls took third in the 4×800, with Kemna, Makenna Davis, Heaven Kivett and Miller running. Neosho’s girls were fourth in the 4×200, with Taigen Mitchell, Claire Burghart, Kivett and Miranda Wennhold competing.
Third-place finishers for the Neosho girls were Madilyn Ebbinghaus (400) and Kendall Platner (100 H), while Davis (1600, 3200) and Kinley Wilson (pole vault) finished fourth in their events.
The Neosho boys were led by Kaden Cole, who won the 800 and took second in the 1600.
The Wildcats took first in the 4×400, with Tristan Clanton, Evan Haskins, Cole and Isaiah Green competing.
Neosho’s 4×200 team of Jeremiah Larson, Marcus Duncan, Noah Reed and William Howell took second.
Tristen Linders placed second in the discus, while Larson was second in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 110 hurdles.
Neosho’s boys were fourth in the standings.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Nevada’s girls won the 4×400 in 4:31, with Bailey Ast, Jade Feller, Clara Swearingen and Madyson Majors competing.
Nevada’s Lillian Hart won both the high jump and the long jump, while teammates Claire Pritchett (shot put) and Taylor Thompson (discus) also won events.
Riverton’s Cali Bocovich was the runner-up in the girls 400.
Columbus’ Gunnar Lawrence won the boys 400 in 53.87.
McDonald County’s Esteban Martinez-Olvera was third in the 200.
JOPLIN INVITATIONAL
Boys team standings: Webb City 167.5, Joplin 166, Rogers Heritage 106.5, Neosho 90, Nevada 41.5, McDonald County 37.5, Carthage 33, Columbus 28, Carl Junction 23.5, Riverton 17.5.
Girls team standings: Webb City 129, Nevada 121, Neosho 102.5, Joplin 99, Carl Junction 98, Carthage 62, Riverton 38.5, Columbus 34, McDonald County 31.
For more reasons than one, Brandon Taute was in a good mood when the Joplin Invitational track and field meet concluded on Friday night.
For starters, the head coach of the Joplin Eagles was elated that Friday’s wet weather did not cancel or cause any major issues for his team’s home meet.
And secondly, Taute was thrilled with how his boys and girls performed.
Joplin’s boys finished second in the team standings with 166 points, just 1.5 points behind Webb City. The JHS girls finished fourth behind Webb City, Nevada and Neosho.
Throughout the meet, athletes competed in a light rain and in temperatures that hovered around 50 degrees.
“We were concerned with the weather and how we’d respond,” Taute told SoMo Sports. “You never know how your kids are going to come out in these types of situations, but I thought they were mentally focused and they accepted the challenge. I thought both teams did a really good job. And I thought the meet went pretty smooth.”
JHS BOYS SHINE
Joplin once again had a stellar showing, as the Eagles won eight events and finished second in four others.
“I thought it was a really good team effort across the board,” Taute said. “Donovahn Watkins had a huge throw in shot and we’d been waiting to see him breakout. We were super strong in the distance events like we’ve been all year. Hobbs (Campbell) had another good meet and Micah (Bruggeman) is starting to get back into form. All of our relays were good. Our jumpers, Donovyn (Fowler) and Trayshawn (Thomas), were solid again. We were just solid across the board.”
Joplin’s Donovyn Fowler won the long jump and took second in both the triple jump and 200 at Friday’s home invite. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
As far as individual event winners, Joplin’s Hobbs Campbell crossed the line first in both the 1600 (4:25) and the 3200 (9:46), while Nathan Glades won the 100-meter dash in 11.53.
Donovyn Fowler won the long jump and took second in both the triple jump and 200, while Watkins won the shot put and Bruggeman was the runner-up in the 800.
The Eagles definitely fared well in the relays.
Joplin won the 4×100 relay in 45.51, with Glades, Trayshawn Thomas, Dominick Simmons and Fowler competing.
The Eagles also took first in the 4×200, as Glades, Luke Vieselmeyer, Simmons and Evan Overstreet recorded a time of 1:36.
Joplin’s 4×800 relay team of Nicholas Horton, Ryan Byers, Ashton Ventura and Zaben Barnes took first in 8:28.
Joplin was second in the 4×400, with Vieselmeyer, Ventura, Horton and Bruggeman running.
Thomas was third in the triple jump, while Horton (800), Bruggeman (1600), Barnes (3200) and Watkins (discus) all finished fourth in their respective events.
Fifth-place finishers were Gustavo Onate (400), Evan Matlock (1600, 3200), Korey Read (110 H) and Thomas (long jump), while Thomas (100) and Triston Stogsdill (300 H) took sixth.
DUNN LEADS JHS GIRLS
The Joplin girls compiled 99 points and finished fourth out of nine teams.
“I thought they all did really well,” Taute said. “Jennalee Dunn had a great day, like she always does. Our distance girls and all of our relays were really good. Allie Lawrence had a good meet as far as the sprints and the vault.”
A junior, Dunn won two individual events and ran a leg of a winning relay.
Dunn crossed the line first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:32 and also won the 1600 in 5:32.
The JHS girls won the 4×800 relay in 10:28, with Alexandra Carson, Jackaline Triplett, Dunn and Allie Keizer competing.
Joplin’s 4×200 relay team of Kylie Anderson, Isabella Yust, Emily Clifford and Lawrence took third, while the 4×400 team of Kennedy Schwartz, Tatiana Potter, Carson and Dunn placed fourth.
Joplin’s 4×100 relay team of Anderson, Lawrence, Yust and Bailey Ledford finished fifth.
Lawrence was the runner-up in the 200 and took third in the pole vault, while Keizer placed third in the 3200.
Logan Bruggeman was fourth in the 300 hurdles, Claire Jasper finished fourth in the shot put and Alayna Merriman was fifth in the javelin.
Sixth-place finishers for the JHS girls were Abigail Eckert (100), Yust (200), Mya Ndedi-Ntepe (400), Mairi Beranek (3200) and Jovi Frost (discus). Kirsten Thom was seventh in the high jump.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Joplin travels to Willard on Thursday.
Note: See a related story for results of the other area teams.
JOPLIN INVITATIONAL Boys team standings: Webb City 167.5, Joplin 166, Rogers Heritage 106.5, Neosho 90, Nevada 41.5, McDonald County 37.5, Carthage 33, Columbus 28, Carl Junction 23.5, Riverton 17.5. Girls team standings: Webb City 129, Nevada 121, Neosho 102.5, Joplin 99, Carl Junction 98, Carthage 62, Riverton 38.5, Columbus 34, McDonald County 31.
