High School

St. Elizabeth tops South Nodaway to win second straight Missouri Class 1 baseball championship

Sophomore Blake Wobbe has three hits and six RBIs in win

Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

OZARK, Mo. – St. Elizabeth did it again. 

The Hornets battled their way back to the Missouri Class 1 Baseball Championships after winning it a year ago and seniors Jace Kesel, Caleb Oligschlaeger and Levi Holtmeyer led the way for another title run.

Five players recorded at least two hits, led by sophomore second baseman Blake Wobbe's three-hit, six-RBI day, as St. Elizabeth rolled to a 13-3 six-inning victory over South Nodaway on Tuesday afternoon at Sky Bacon Stadium. 

“We always thought coming into the season we had another chance to get back here," Hornets coach Caleb Heckemeyer said. "Rough start, but the way we finished was just the way we thought. To be on top again, three times, two in a row, great feeling and these boys are really excited.”

The championship is the third in five years – 2019, 2022 and 2023 – for St. Elizabeth (23-7) and fifth in program history, including titles in 1995 and 1997.

“It feels amazing,” said Kesel, the Hornets’ catcher, who had a double and an inside-the-park home run and drove in two runs. “The first time was great but the second time’s even better.”

St. Elizabeth won its second straight Missouri Class 1 championship.  / Nate Latsch photo

St. Elizabeth broke open a 1-1 game with five runs in the top of the third.

Kesel started the scoring with an RBI double off the left-field wall. Sophomore pitcher Gavin Williams, who picked up the win on the mound with 6 1/3 solid innings, and sophomore right fielder Brady Kemna added RBI singles. Then Wobbe, another sophomore, made it 6-1 with a two-run single to center.

Kesel hit another ball off the left-field wall in the fourth inning and was able to make it all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

“I knew I hit it well,” Kesel said of his 12th homer of his senior season, “but when I saw it smack off the wall and the kid went down I thought I might actually have a chance to get around here.”

St. Elizabeth's Jace Kesel
St. Elizabeth's Jace Kesel / Nate Latsch photo

Wobbe came up big with a two-out RBI single in the fifth to make it 8-1.

After South Nodaway (20-3) scored a run in the fifth on senior second baseman Matthew Jermain’s RBI single, the Hornets put together another five-run inning in the sixth.

Williams drove in a run with an infield single. Sophomore center field Noah Chipman, who had three hits, drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-2. Then Wobbe came up clutch again with a three-run triple to extend the lead to 13-2.

Wobbe, who was hitless in his first 10 at-bats at the 2022 and 2023 championships, finished the game with three straight hits and six RBIs.

“He’s been struggling some his first two years here, but he always puts in great at-bats and when we need him he comes up big,” Heckemeyer said. “Especially this year. He turned his average up and when we needed some big hits or getting innings going, he was the one that would get us going. He worked the pitcher, got a pitch where he could get his hands to the ball, and just put it right in there. Blake has done an amazing job here hitting-wise and fielding-wise too, so he’ll be one of the leaders next year.”

South Nodaway scored again in the sixth but couldn’t extend the game any further. St. Elizabeth closed it out in six to celebrate another championship.

Blake Wobbe
St. Elizabeth sophomore Blake Wobbe / Nate Latsch photo

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Missouri Class 1 baseball championship

Photos from Nate Latsch

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Blake Wobbe
Nate Latsch photo
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Published
Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
NATE LATSCH, SBLIVE SPORTS

Nate Latsch is a Regional Editor at SBLive Sports overseeing high school coverage for Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. A veteran sportswriter and multimedia content creator, Latsch has covered high school sports in the St. Louis area and Missouri for 20 years, with a focus on high school football, basketball, baseball and football and basketball recruiting.  He has worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, STLhighschoolsports.com, the Associated Press, FOX Sports Midwest, MLB.com and Scout.com.  In addition to covering high school sports, Latsch has covered youth, college and professional sports, including covering the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Rams, the University of Missouri and Saint Louis University. 

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