‘We did it for him’: Why Liberty North’s repeat baseball championship was extra-special

For some, high school baseball means more than winning state titles.

That’s hard to imagine for a program like Liberty North. The Eagles won their first state championship in baseball last year, then one-upped themselves by winning another this spring — the first time in school history a Liberty North team has claimed repeat titles, according to Eagles coach Ryan Stegall.

But even amid the leaping embraces and throwing of gloves after the final out, Arkansas State-bound Jackson Downing and his teammates weren’t only excited about the repeat and gold medals they’d soon receive.

The victory represented a mission accomplished, one agreed upon before the 2023 season began:

Win it for Coach James.

“Initial thought was, man, we finally did it for him,” Downing said. “When we were celebrating, there was thunder in the background with no rain in sight, no rain in the forecast at all ... That was his way of showing us that he was there.”

James, Rob James, was Liberty North’s pitching coach for the past few years before succumbing May 5 to sarcoma cancer.

But to the school’s broader community, James was more than just another assistant coach. Along with attending every game possible, regardless of the sport, he was an assistant basketball coach, substitute teacher, practicing lawyer and, for a few of his players, best friend.

When James was diagnosed four years ago, the volleyball team hosted a cure for cancer game that would honor James and create a slogan for him. After doing some research, Stegall, the head baseball coach, found the perfect one:

Ready For Battle.

“That has been our deal for the last four years on pretty much every tweet we send out,” Stegall said. “It’s not just about these guys — he cares for the whole community.”

‘RFB’ becomes the mantra

From that moment on, the three-word phrase — Ready For Battle — took off around campus.

Other Liberty North teams integrated it into their own regimes, especially the baseball team. Before the 2022 season, “RFB” was plastered in multiple areas of the field: the dugout, right centerfield wall and even on the players’ jerseys.

Class of 2024 Tennessee pledge Trey Snyder said it was a constant reminder that the team was “playing through (James) and for (James).”

James was in the dugout during the Eagles’ 2022 championship run but was unable to attend most games this year. He continued to make his presence felt, watching games via livestream and texting the team in a group chat.

James did get to enjoy at least one game in person this season. Liberty North played host to a Fight For a Cure game on April 13 against Blue Springs South, and a ceremony was conducted for the ailing assistant. At the time, the game featured the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in the state, and players from both sides wore RFB on their jerseys.

Stegall recalled the emotion of that night.

“That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, is wheel him out,” Stegall said. “For him to come out to the field one more time and be there, you know, was very special. And I’m so glad he got to do that.”

Twenty-two days after that memorable evening, Stegall received the early-morning news that James had passed away. It was a tough pill to swallow, and after informing the school’s administration, Stegall had to relay the news to his players. The Eagles had a game scheduled for that evening against Raymore-Peculiar.

Kansas pledge Ty Wisdom said the school’s morale was down all day, emphasizing the effect James had on Liberty North. But even during this lonesome time, Wisdom, Downing and Arkansas pledge Tate McGuire sat down together during first hour and synced mindsets: They were going to get the job done that day.

“He wouldn’t want us to sit at home and kind of weep about it and be all sad about it. He would’ve wanted us to go out there and play,” said McGuire, who recently had “RFB” tattooed on the back of his left triceps. “There’s no place he’d rather be than watching us out there playing, so it was a good thing to go out there and play for him.”

In a game Downing described as one of the most important of the season, the Eagles beat Ray-Pec 5-2 and continued to move in the right direction — toward the postseason. Repping their RFB jerseys throughout the playoffs, Liberty North finished with a record of 10-1.

The Eagles’ run included attending James’ funeral on May 26, the day before a quarterfinal matchup against Rockhurst. The state championship game was played at Sky Bacon Stadium in Ozark, about three hours from Liberty. James’ wife and family were on hand to see the Eagles beat Francis Howell.

Liberty North athletic director Lane Green wasn’t able to attend the championship game because he was in St. Louis, supporting the Eagles’ girls soccer team. Both squads competed for state titles that day. With both groups winning, and seeing a full moon shine afterward, Green was reminded yet again of James.

“I definitely felt Rob James’ presence at the soccer game, as I know they all did at the baseball game,” Green said. “That kind of exemplifies the relationship he had with almost all of our athletic programs.”

Eagles were ‘championship good’

Looking at Liberty North’s roster, which is sprinkled with Division I talent, it was clear the baseball team was what James liked to call “championship good.”

Besides Wisdom, Downing and McGuire — who was an All-American and Missouri’s 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year — the Eagles’ senior class garnered 10 college commitments. Their Class of 2024 commitments include Snyder and Bo Jonas, who will be headed to Oklahoma.

But rather than pointing to the accolades or skills of individual players, Snyder said Liberty North’s success represented a collective team effort — a mentality that James helped nourish, executed by a team competing in his honor.

“We had 21 guys on that final roster that all had bought in and had the same goal in mind,” Stegall said. “We truly had, I think, the most talent, but we had the best team at the end to just, you know, come together.”

In an Instagram post following James’ death, Wisdom said James learned he had 18 months to live on May 20, 2021 (coincidentally the same day that the Eagles lost the district championship game to Liberty during Wisdom’s sophomore year). James lived nearly six months past that prognosis.

During the program’s run to back-to-back state championships, Wisdom said, the team lived by one of James’ many sayings: Play hard. Have fun, Don’t Suck.

“He was still showing up, coaching us and just wanted to be out on the field, even though he was battling the hardest battle of his life,” Wisdom said. “No doubt in my mind once we made it to state, made it to Ozark, that we had to do it for him … We’re going to fight till the end, and that’s what he did.”