“We have a lot of good players that have played well this year,” said 30-year head coach Mark Pelfrey, who is a member of the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches 2024 Hall of Fame class. “We’ve had more talented teams, but I think it’s just the way these guys get along and push each other and support each other.”
After every game, the coaches choose a player of the game. After 26 games, at least 16 different players have earned that honor. Maybe it will be one of those 16 or someone else that wins the award when the Panthers open Division I tournament play at home Thursday against either Xenia or Stebbins.
“Our team chemistry is definitely the biggest reason,” senior pitcher Luke Burroughs said. “We’re not the most talented in Springboro history, but we’re a scrappy bunch. The energy is always there.”
Winning as much as the Panthers do requires good starting pitching. Seniors Burroughs (Clark State), Jackson Saylor (Ohio Northern) and Josh Booth (Marietta) have led a staff with an ERA of 2.06.
“All of our starters have the capability of going all seven innings every single game they pitch because they always keep battling,” said senior third baseman and reliever Zack Gardner. “They have good stuff almost every single game.”
Gardner, who will join Burroughs at Clark State also in hopes of eventually landing at a Division I college, swings the Panthers’ most productive bat. He’s hitting a league-best .488 with a .520 on-base percentage and leads the league with 43 RBIs.
“I just feel like when I’m in the box, I stand up more tall, feel more comfortable, stay loose, hunt my pitch, be aggressive early,” Gardner said.
The other college-bound players are pitcher Joseph Mossbarger (Mount St, Joseph), who is playing first and DHing and hitting .351 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Tyler Phillips (Washington University of St, Louis) and Ammon Vaughan (Miami-Middletown). Sophomore shortstop Ben Veletean is hitting .371 with 18 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, and is committed to Louisville.
“We are a very confident team,” said Pelfrey, whose team finished 13-1 in the GWOC, along with Fairmont. “We’ve been in a lot of tight games or we’ve been down and our kids are confident that we’re going to find ways to come out on top.”
In tournament play the games mean more, but Burroughs plans to keep the same mindset when he’s pitching.
“I like being called upon, I like being that guy that the rest of the team can count on,” Burroughs said.
Gardner expects a lot of himself and the team as it attempts to win the program’s first regional title since 2019.
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball with a team, and we’re all connected in some way,” he said. “It’s probably one of the best teams in Springboro history. I feel like we’re making a great run.”
A reminder hangs on the outside of the Panthers’ dugout of where they want to go. A large sign commemorates the 2019 state final four team and lists the name of every player that helped achieve that goal.
“That’s always the goal,” Burroughs said. “It’d be big to have our names up there. It’d be really cool.”
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