Inductees

To hear the “Old Guard” tell it, Mansfield is a Norman Rockwell painting in real life:

Kids riding their bikes across town in the summers, trying to round up enough buddies for a baseball game. In the evenings, dads coaching their sons in youth leagues. The box-office draw? Not a movie house but the high school baseball team.

The Local 9 certainly have been a must-watch, not only in Wright County but anywhere. Which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Mansfield High School Baseball Program with the Class of 2020.

The Lions have advanced to nine Final Fours, played eight times for the state championship and captured three state titles in Class 2 (1995, 1996, 2017).

Mansfield was a state runner-up in 1984, 1991, 1993, 2005 and 2018, and placed third in 1990.

“As kids, you develop heroes, if you will, people you look up to and you want to be like,” said Gary Greene, who played – and later coached – for the Lions. “When they’re on that stage and we made the Final Four in 1984, you’re like, ‘I want to be there. I want to be on that field one day.’”

Despite a school enrollment of only about 200 students annually, it’s challenging to earn a varsity roster spot.

This is where the late Doug Jones (MSHOF 2016) earned a majority of his state-record 713 victories.

And consider these numbers: 22, 26, 39 and four. In order, that represents Mansfield’s collection of… district titles, Summit Conference championships, collegiate players and pro players. The pros were Bart Evans, Barry Short, Brent Evans and Matt Skyles. Bart Evans reached the big leagues (Kansas City Royals, 1998).

Between 1992 and 2000, Mansfield set the state record with 51 consecutive league victories, and its 2004-2010 teams combined for 41 consecutive league wins.

The 1968 team was its first district champion.

The 1984 team (21-2), coached by Jim Nichols, rode pitcher Jackie McCleary (16-1, 178 strikeouts) and shortstop Don Brennan to the state semifinals. In the quarterfinal, Alan “Bub” Morris’ two-out grand slam won it just minutes after Shannon Watterson’s two-run homer.

Jones took over in the late 1980s.

The 1989 and 1990 teams are arguably the best in Mansfield history. The 1990 team was 30-0 before a state semifinal loss.

“The balls we hit hard just didn’t fall,” said Greene, a member of the 1990 team and one of its seven eventual collegians. “It was probably a game we should have won 1-0, but we didn’t win games 1-0. We won 12-0, 15-1. It just didn’t happen for us.”

Those teams inspired many others.

The 1991 runner-up (17-6) was battle-tested after three losses to Ozark Conference teams and beat Fatima 5-4 in the semifinal.

The 1993 runner-up (23-6) was led by pitcher Kendall Keith (8-1, 2.42 ERA, 63 strikeouts) and rallied to beat St. Pius X 4-3 in the semifinals.

The 1995 team beat Fatima 2-1 in the finals. Matt Skyles pitched all seven innings and drove in the winning run, following Jason Davis’ stand-up double. Joe Garrison, the team’s catcher, had plated the tying run (Skyles) in the sixth. One day earlier, Garrison pitched four innings, helping the Lions save Skyles for the championship.

The 1996 team beat Principia 2-0 in the finals as Davis pitched five innings, and Skyles and Melvin Thompson drove in runs. The Lions had beaten Fatima 1-0 in the semifinal as Hayden Dennis plated Jeromy Brooke, who had hit a two-out triple.

Skyles started the 1993 state championship game (8 strikeouts, no walks), closed the 1995 semifinal, started both the 1995 state final (struck out 10 for his 11^th win) and the 1996 semifinal (a record 13 strikeouts in seven innings), and closed the 1996 final.

The 2005 Lions featured pitcher Taylor Thompson and set numerous team records, including second-most wins and stolen bases (174) – with Evan Jones’ 39 also an individual season record.

The 2017 state team (21-2) won it all months after Coach Jones’ passing. Mansfield ended the season on a 10-game win streak, capped by a 16-3 win against Canton in the final.

In 2018, the state runner-up team beat Russellville 16-4 in the semifinal. Spencer Greene set the program’s career record for hits (187).

“We were so blessed in so many ways,” said Garrison, who returned as coach in 2018. “Blessed with talent, blessed with pitching, blessed with ability and blessed with so much passion for the game. When you put all that together, it leads to winning.”