Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Riley Veith

Riley Makes Dean's List!!!!


Baseball excels in classroom
University of Saint Mary Academic Vice President Dr. Bryan Le Beau announced the Fall 2011 Dean's Honor List, and 12 student-athletes represented the baseball program by having a 3.5 GPA or better. Overall, the University of Saint Mary baseball program accomplished a Fall 2011 team GPA of 3.1.

Cade Brummer, Fr. (Lancaster, Calif.)
Jesse Castro, Jr. (Leavenworth, Kan.)
Michael Ferracuti, Jr. (Etobicoke Ontario, Canada)
Chris Haney, So. (Leavenworth, Kan.)
Winston Hines, Sr. (Dodge City, Kan.)
Devin Hupp, Sr. (Leavenworth, Kan.)
Trevor Matifes, Jr. (Alton, Ill.)
Dustin Maurer, Jr. (Spring Hill, Kan.)
Cody McCary, Sr. (Redding, Calif.)
Raymundo Osuna, Jr. (Iowa Park, Texas)
Patrick Swain, Fr. (Strasburg, Colo.)
Riley Veith, Fr. (Purdy, Mo.)

Friday, January 27, 2012

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Hunter, Travis and Trey!!!

Coach Hughes' Corner

In my years of coaching, I have a ton of memories. Memories of Wins, Losses, and even off field memories. I have coached 100's of student athletes in 100's of games over the past 10 years. I have fond memories of everyone of those athletes. I am still in contact with a young man by the name of Will Blandin that is serving our country in Iraq at this time. He was my first ever 2nd basemen on the first ever team I coached in Leavenworth KS on the 16 and Under Leavenworth Travelers. These people have been a huge part of any success that I have had. I hope I have had some affect on there lives like they have had on me. I was asked the other day by an individual I know, what my fondest or greatest memory as a coach was. It has taken me 3 days to remember most of them, and I have found my most memorable moment as a coach. I even researched and found the newspaper article that goes with it. Greatest day in my coaching career in my own opinion. Here is the article written by Lee Stubblefield for the Monett and Cassville Paper on May 27, 2009


When the Stockton Tigers chased both Mason Roller and Kevin Miller off the hill in the top half of the first inning with an eight-run barrage Tuesday afternoon, the Purdy Eagles were desperately looking for a miracle. Roller faced seven batters, and the only out recorded in his favor was a sacrifice bunt by Robbe Ewing, Stockton's second hitter. Miller suffered a similar fate, throwing to six hitters, and watching the lead grow to 8-0 with only two outs on the board.

Light-hitting catcher Riley Veith became the third Purdy pitcher of the inning, and he held the Tigers in check for six innings while his slugging teammates earned ties at 8-8 and 11-11 enroute to winning the MSHSAA Class 2A sectional game, 16-13.

Trailing 8-2 in the bottom of the second, Purdy roared back with a vengeance to tie the game at 8 on the strength of a Trent Goetz two-run blast. The Eagles chased unbeaten starter Robbe Ewing in the second, when the Tiger ace faced eight batters, was charged with eight runs, and only recorded four outs in his starter's role.

Stockton regained the lead in the top of the third, as Kevin Martin and Craig Johnson stroked back-to-back RBI singles for a 10-8 advantage. Nick Engleman, who relieved Ewing in the second, shut down Purdy in the bottom half of the third inning, facing only five batters and holding the Eagles scoreless.
Matt Coyle led off the Stockton fourth with a double, and scored on Buck Walker's one-out single to left to up the lead to 11-8. Vieth avoided further damage by coaxing a weak fly ball off the bat of Ewing, and then Blake Williams doubled Walker off first base on the play.

"Double plays were among the many keys for us," Coach Joshua Hughes said. "We turned three in the game and those extra outs with men on base were very imporant."

Purdy failed to score again in the fourth frame, stranding Cody Hall at third base and Kevin Miller at second.

Vieth returned to the mound for Purdy in the fifth, and caged the Tigers on just 16 pitches. Engleman drew a walk to start the inning, but Martin grounded to second and the Eagles turned a textbook double play. Johnson smacked a single to center, but Mason Roller ran down a long foul past the Stockton dugout to record the third out.
Still down by 11-8, Purdy turned two walks and singles by Blake Williams and Derek Fulp into the tying runs. Two runs crossed the plate following Fulp's hit, and Johnson, the Stockton catcher, was injured trying make a tag at the plate. Jordan Abercrombie took over behind the plate for the Tigers.
Vieth retired the Tigers in the sixth inning on 16 more pitches, and a classic piece of trickeration that thwarted a budding Stockton rally.
With Tigers on second and third with one out in the top of the sixth, Coach Hughes rolled the dice for Purdy. The pitcher wheeled to execute the pickoff at second base, the runner slid back to the bag, and the Purdy infielders were running panic-stricken into center field after the ball.
Stockton's Matt Coyle broke for home from third base and was out by 10 feet at the plate. Hughes had dusted off the fake pickoff play in such a critical situation that everyone in the stadium bought it. Walker flied out to deep centerfield on a 3-1 pitch and the Eagles had shutout the Tigers in consecutive innings, and preserved the 11-11 tie.

Stockton came unraveled in the bottom of the sixth. Kevin Miller reached on a one-out single. Goetz followed with a sacrifice bunt, but the throw for the sure out rocketed past the first baseman and bounded all the way to the right field fence. Miller scored to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, and Goetz wound up at third base on the play.

Landon Terry pushed his suicide bunt attempt too far, and Goetz was out at the plate. Terry ran all the way to second base when the Tigers thought time had been called. Mason Roller drove in Terry with a crushing double to center to build the Purdy lead to 13-11.

Engleman balked Roller over to third base in the midst of issuing a four-pitch walk to Chris Bennett. Then Blake Williams hit a towering three-run homer that just cleared the right field fence 280' away. The Eagles took the field for the seventh inning with a 16-11 lead.

Veith, visibly tiring in the heat, took the hill for the final inning. Ewing singled and Engleman walked, before Vieth struck out Martin on four pitches. Johnson singled to left to load the bases, but Ethan Meeks hit a wobbly fly to Blake Williams in right for the second out.

Derek Stockton followed with a nearly identical fly ball to right, but this time Williams struggled with the blinding sun and two runs scored on his bobble.

Hughes strode to the mound and handed the ball to Trent Goetz as Vieth received a standing ovation from the Purdy crowd. Goetz secured the victory, striking out Coyle on four pitches.



Gave me goosebumps reading this and remembering that day. I had forgot about the catch Mason made, using Goetz to get the last out, Fulp driving in two. However, I didn't forget Veith's performance, Goetz and Williams homeruns, Rollers ball going further than Goetz and Williams combined and he only got a double, and the 8-0 deficit to a very good team.

Hope you enjoyed my greatest baseball memory of my Coaching Career.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pre-Season Rankings Released

I just received this in an email this morning from Ken Terry, Thank you Ken!

We are still being recognized by other coaches.

CLASS 2
1. Summit Christian Academy
2. Clever
3. Charleston
4. Elsberry
5. Valle Catholic
6. Conway
7. Crystal City
8. Purdy
9. Eugene
10. Sparta

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Coach Hughes' Corner

It has been a while since I was able to give some time to this web-site. I have had some other things going on and really busy. Now that it is getting close to baseball, I am back at it.

As a referee, I see a lot of local and not so local teams. I have compiled a list of my Top 5 in both boys and girls that I have refereed. Since I can not and will not referee a Purdy High School game, I have to leave them off the list. Remember, these are teams I have had the privilege to referee.

Coach Hughes Top 5 boys basketball teams

1. Kickapoo
2. Lafayette out of St. Joseph MO
3. Wheaton
4. Billings
5. Bentonville

I have not refereed Southwest, Mt. Vernon or Carl Junction this year. They may jump up there when I get that opportunity.

Coach Hughes Top 5 girls basketball teams(this is tougher because I haven't had as many girls games as boys)

1. Carthage
2. Pittsburgh KS
3. McDonald County
4. Neosho
5. East Newton

This list will dramatically change after the next few weeks when I will see Mt. Vernon, Webb City, and a few Springfield area teams.


I spend my winter refereeing basketball and enjoying my family. This year I had the opportunity to enjoy a lot of hours deer hunting with my boys. Trey spent 4 hours hunting and seen deer both times he hunted and connected on a young 7 point buck. Travis spent over 30 hours hunting with me and never seen a deer. Hunter also spent a lot of time and didn't get a deer. He seen some, but couldn't close the deal. Sometimes it is the way it is. I was fortunate enough to fill both of my tags with a doe and a buck this year and have provided some meat for our family. The deer burger is already gone, but we have steaks, jerky, and roast left. Looking forward to next year to give Travis another opportunity.

Looking forward to some late season basketball games and leading up to baseball season.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Fall 2011 Stats

I know this is long overdue, but here it is!!!!

I will list the top 3 in each category.

AVG
418 C. Terry
395 R. Stevenson
388 D. Bennett

Runs
22 R. Stevenson
20 C. Hall
17 C. Terry

Hits
19 C. Terry
19 D. Bennett
17 R. Stevenson and C. Hall

Doubles
9 C. Hall
6 D. Bennett and A. Hancock

Triples
2 C. Hall
1 R. Stevenson and T. Scott

Homeruns
4 C. Hall
1 R. Stevenson

RBI's
25 C. Hall
14 D. Bennett
11 A. Hancock, K. Walker, and C. Terry

Ks(lowest amount)
4 R. Stevenson and A. Mareth
6 C. Terry

Pitching

Wins
6 R. Stevenson
4 C. Terry
3 D. Bennett

Losses
1 C. Terry and Devon Bennett
2 R. Stevenson

ERA
2.68 R. Stevenson
3.94 C. Terry
5.28 D. Bennett

IP
50.1 R. Stevenson
29.2 C. Terry
15.1 D. Bennett

Earned Runs
9 D. Bennett
13 C. Terry
15 R. Stevenson

K's
102 R. Stevenson
41 C. Terry
24 D. Bennett

Monday, January 9, 2012

2012 is Here

We are working on some fun and exciting baseball for this upcoming spring. We will begin off season work outs soon. We have 9 individuals participating in a winter hitting league and a few going back to there pitching coach. We are looking forward to a fun and exciting year.

We have some schedule changes due to Marionville, Aurora, and Blue Eye dropping us from there schedule. We have added Miller and working on some others. Still planning on the Cassville and Monett tournaments. Also working on some extra JV games and a tournament.