It wasn't his smoothest performance, but Santa Fe junior Taylor Wesley ground out seven tough innings to win the state championship game. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

Santa Fe became the 10th unbeaten team among 146 state champions since 1950, and only the second one in 11 years, with its 12-7 victory over Stoutland in the MSHSAA Class 1 Championships title game Thursday at Springfield.

When Fisher took over the Chiefs three years ago, they had lost every starter but one -- then-freshman, now-senior Kenzie Thorp -- from a state quarterfinalist. Did the native of Carrollton, who could only play during the summer because his school didn't have a baseball team, believe he could hold the first-place trophy?

"With the dedication and heart of these seniors, you bet," Fisher declared.

"I've got goose bumps right now, just thinking about it," Thorp remarked. "It means a lot."

Santa Fe returned to the state tourney for the second year in a row, no longer happy with merely being there, according to senior Taylor Wesley -- who tossed a gritty complete game for the win.

"We weren't satisfied until we got to win this game," he said. "We gave it everything we had, and hopefully we can come back and do it next year."

Yet, "Same Team, Same Dream" was the Tigers' motto, as it had twice earlier reached the final without a crown to show for it. This time, same result.

Stoutland hurt itself early with a pair of first-inning errors. Singles by Wesley and sophomore Matt Lovercamp helped the Chiefs get two runs. A decent start for a Santa Fe club which trailed until the sixth inning the day before during its 7-4 victory over defending state champion New Haven.

"You have that much more confidence," Thorp explained. "You're not playing from behind."

Senior Adam Smith knocked Wesley's first pitch in the bottom half of the frame off the third-base bag for a double and came in on senior Brock Chaffin's single to center field. Wesley admitted that he "was a little nervous."

"I just told myself you have to calm down and get the next guy," he said. "Whatever happens, you have to stay focused on the next one."

Wesley tossed three scoreless frames, but the inability to add to the lead had Fisher "shaking." Fortunately, Santa Fe's defense -- which had been error-free the previous day -- had only one harmless flub during the first four innings.

"I was telling our guys, 'I need some runs, I need some runs,'" Wesley recalled. "'Trust me. If we get some runs, I'll do it.'"

It took a while Wednesday for the Chiefs to figure out New Haven junk-baller Scott Sory, but the slow stuff from Stoutland senior Daniel Hernandez (6-1) didn't stymie them -- although two runners thrown out on the base paths kept them from adding to the lead. When the Tigers turned to senior right-hander Josh White, Santa Fe feasted on the first fastball hurler they had seen in Meador Park.

Junior Max Capps hit a one-out single, junior Ben Catlett walked and sophomore Hunter Rolf dropped a looper into right field -- Capps scoring on an interference call at third base. Thorp's infield single loaded the bases with two outs and senior Logan Wesley and Lovercamp drew walks to force in runs.

Stoutland turned to senior Scott Breeden, a cunny-thumb left-hander, and senior Brandon Schmidt drove a double past diving center fielder Tyler Wrinkle to plate two more runs.

Staked to a 7-1 lead, Wesley surrendered three runs in the bottom half of the stanza, the first on an error. White capped the rally with an RBI single.

Wesley doubled in a run over the center fielder's head in the fifth, but would strike a bigger blow for his own cause by jacking a homer some 350 feet over the left-field wall with Catlett on second with a double.

"I was thinking before I went to bat that this is like Coach (Matt) Miller pitching to us in batting practice," Wesley remarked. "It just felt good off the bat."

Thorp and Logan Wesley singled and came in to score when Schmidt's high pop-up to short right field, the apparent inning-ending out, was dropped.

Those extra runs weren't needed, but they could have been, especially with Wesley tiring.

"Before he went back out for the seventh, I asked him, 'Do you want to do this?'" Fisher said. "He said, 'Coach, I'm three outs from a state championship.' I said, 'Let's get it done.'"

Triples by all-state senior Cory Kyle -- after he was denied first base when his arm was brushed by a pitch over the plate -- and Wrinkle ahead of hit batters and junior Seth Burns' sacrifice fly led to three runs. But that was all the Tigers (21-3) would get.

Wesley (6-0) struck out a batter and induced a grounder to end the game and kick off the celebration and trophy presentation -- complete with the demonstration of the Tomahawk Chant, such as one might experience at Atlanta Braves games, which the Chiefs would use as a rallying cry and endeared them to the Drury University baseball players serving as the grounds crew.

So Santa Fe did it, an unblemished 20-0 record and another chapter in the athletic legacy of a school which has produced 40 top-four finishers -- and 13 champions, this the first one in baseball -- in various sports during its 40 years of existence. These Chiefs may not be wholly aware of that tradition, but so many of them have played together for so long that they have a different dynamic.

"We're more of a family than a team," Thorp asserted. "We are a family and are all together."

Perfect.

Santa Fe Chiefs State Champions