Inductees

Thumb through scrapbooks or yearbooks of Ozark High School baseball players, and it’s one of those sweet trips down Memory Lane.

“Baseball Resumed” reads the headline tucked away in the 1975 Yearbook, accompanied with a collage of black-and-white photos. Four years later, in 1979, the team reached none other than the Final Four, and the second-place trophy still sits quietly in the trophy case at the high school.

Of course, from those early years rose one of the most respected organizations in the Show-Me State, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame  proudly inducted the Ozark High School Baseball Program with the Class of 2018.

The Ozark High School Baseball Program has been among the state’s best since the 1970s, with the coaching lineage tracing back to Jim Nichols in the late 1970s followed by Wayne France, Terry Writer, Mark Wheeler and Mike Essick. Essick also was inducted with the Class of 2018.

Entering the 2018 season, the Tigers had reached the state playoffs 10 times and advanced to seven Final Fours. Ozark won state championships in 2004 in Class 3 and in 2008 in Class 4 and finished as state runners-up twice (1979, 1981), third twice (1990, 2002) and then fourth in 2011.

Additionally, Ozark has won 10 district titles and 19 Central Ozark Conference championships.

All of which is quite a feat when one considers that southwest Missouri has long prided itself on competitive high school baseball, largely because of dedicated coaches and talent-rich rosters.

Overall, the program has produced 24 All-State selections as well as 76 college players, including nine who signed with NCAA Division I programs. Four of those players reached the pro ranks, with pitcher Lucas Harrell having played in the big leagues from 2010 to 2017. Essick, inducted individually with the Class of 2018, entered his 24^th season as head coach in 2018 with his Tigers teams having compiled 430 victories. The program also has produced assistants who have gone one to raise the bar at other schools as head coaches, such as Jason Howser at Kickapoo High School, Scott McGee at Willard High School and Casey Ledl at Rogersville High School.

One man who has witnessed most of the run since the early 1980s shakes his head in awe about the way Ozark has risen from a start-up program to a formidable program. The program had started in the mid-60s but was discontinued until 1975.

From there, teams of the 1970s and 1980s ratcheted up the importance of Ozark baseball, setting the stage for a surge ever since 1990.

“They were still coming of age then, and there were other programs in the area that were strong also. They had some tough competition to deal with,” said Phil Montgomery, who spent 29 years at Ozark, either as football coach or athletic director. “However, the talent level, as the school grew, obviously sky-rocketed.”

The pinnacle of Ozark’s efforts played out in 2004 and 2008.

The 2004 club featured Harrell and eventual Stanford University signee Tom Stilson, with Harrell firing a no-hitter in the district championship game – part of his 10-1 record, 108-strikeout season. Spencer Mather hit .304 that season.

In 2008, Ozark team beat Francis Howell 3-2 to win it all for a team featuring Ethan Mather and Matt Jordan, who was 5-for-5 in the semifinals and finals and pitched seven innings. Mather struck out 13 over seven innings.

Those teams were the result of all previous Ozarks teams raising the bar.

The 2002 club, for example, took third place, beating a Sikeston team featuring future big-leaguer Blake DeWitt and four D-I signees.

By then, Ozark had been churning out talent and winning clubs for years.

It all started with the 1979 team coached by Jim Nichols. That was back when the state had only two classifications, with Ozark in Class A and advancing all the way to the state title game.

Two years later, Ozark returned to the Final Four. Coached by France, the 1981 team featured all-conference selections Greg Hannah and Al DeWitt and came within three runs of winning the state title.

Ozark fielded competitive teams in the 1980s, earning double-digit winning seasons in the mid-1980s under Writer (MSHOF 2017) before Wheeler (1987-1994) took the baton and continued building.

Wheeler’s 1990 team reached the Final Four, with the Tigers winning the third-place game 7-6 as Jason Osburn’s tying, two-run line drive set up David Vert’s game-winner.

Overall, what a run it has been.