Excelsior Springs wins baseball state title while head coach deployed overseas

With two out in the top of the seventh inning of the 4A state title game, Excelsior Springs acting head coach Cody Vaughn called for an infield meeting at the mound.

Vaughn didn’t want to disrupt his team’s momentum but wanted to deliver a message to his players, who were an out away from winning the school’s first baseball state title.

“I looked each one of them in the eye, and I said, ‘I'm not talking about baseball right now, guys. I want you to look up into the stands, and I want you to see your family,’” Vaughn recalled. “’Just take in the moment, because we are one out away from accomplishing the ultimate goal of winning state, winning it for Coach Lyons ... and winning it for us.’”

Moments later, senior right fielder Cruz Lloyd caught a lineout that gave the Tigers the 4A state title, capping off a magical season that began with a shakeup: First-year manager Cale Lyons announced shortly after the team’s tryouts he would be deployed overseas to the Army Reserves and wouldn’t coach the team that season.

“If I were a high school student, player or student-athlete, I don’t know how I would have reacted to that news,” Vaughn said, recounting the meeting Lyons had with parents and players before announcing his deployment. “I couldn’t imagine what they were thinking. The new coach gets deployed, another coach stepped up to be head coach, a new program, and it worked out. But at that time I couldn’t imagine what they were thinking.”

Despite the sudden change, the Tigers began the season 14-2, highlighted by winning the Northland Tournament in April despite stiff competition from 5A schools William Chrisman, Oak Park and Fort Osage. The experience and victories over bigger schools marked the first moments when Vaughn knew his team could do something special.

“That’s when I knew I had the pieces in our lineup,” he said. “I had the pieces on our defense and on our pitching staff to make a deep run.”

The Tigers improved to 22-4 midway through the season, inspired by Lyons, who remained in contact with the team via Facebook Messenger and the occasional FaceTime call. He offered words of encouragement from miles away.

“He had such an impact and still has such an impact,” Vaughn said, “Every time that he would communicate with us, the boys are like, ‘We’re going to win another one for you, Coach. We’re going to win another one.’”

The Tigers’ only bump in the road came in May. Starting with a 4-3 loss to Clay County rival Kearny High School, the team lost three straight games for the first time that year. But Vaughn believed that setback was what Excelsior Springs needed.

“It gave us a little bit of a reality check of what we needed to be, who we needed to be all seven innings,” he said. “I will tell you those three losses helped us win the state championship.”

The Tigers bounced back with a win over Grandview High School to close the season before slugging their way through the district tournament by scores of 10-0 over Richmond and 5-3 over Oak Grove to win the District 15 title.

The Tigers’ offense continued to carry the team through the first stages of the 4A state tournament, defeating Benton and St. Michael the Archangel by scores of 8-4 and 8-7, respectively. But in the final stages of the tournament, the Tigers relied on their pitching.

It started with senior pitcher Kaelan Bedford, who went to Vaughn and asked to get the start in the semifinal to send the Tigers to the state title game.

“He was like, ‘I want it. I want the game. I want to get us over that hump. I want to win the game and take us to the state championship,’” Vaughn said. “Kaylen got on that mound, and he was dealing.”

The Johnson County Community College commit pitched 6 1/3 innings of shutout baseball while striking out seven while the Tigers’ hitting did just enough for a 2-0 win over Springfield Catholic. They advanced to the title game against Orchard Farms.

In the 4A state title game, Vaughn turned to his sophomore ace, Landon Marcum, who pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing one hit on 73 pitches. Senior Brody Querry hit a two-run single in the first, and Marcum did the rest, earning his 10th win of the season in the 2-0 win, completing Excelsior Springs’ storybook season with the 4A state title.

As the Tigers dogpiled on the mound, Vaughn described the final moments of an unforgettable season as bittersweet.

“It was a little bit sad that the season was over,” he said. “We had happy tears, but it was sad that it was done.”

After the celebrations on the field, the Tigers were surprised with a video message from Lyons, who watched the entire game virtually and sent one more message to a team he never got to coach but was part of the entire season.

“I’m so proud of every last one of you. I got to watch the entire thing, and I got to tell you it was awesome to see,” Lyons said in the video. “I love you guys. Go Tigers.”