I have been with the Standard Democrat sports department since 2007. I took over as sports editor in May of 2011 and have been slightly crazy about sports since I can remember. I attended Southeast Missouri State University and Scott County Central High School. I co-created our sports web show "The Last Word" and my two children, Elijah and CJ. I was married to my wife, Angie, in May of 2014. I love to golf, I am an avid NBA2K gamer and root for the Fighting Irish on Saturdays.

Sectional baseball: Who ya got?

Posted Monday, May 20, 2013, at 9:19 AM

Starting today four of our local teams (that the Standard Democrat covers) begin sectional baseball.

In Class 3, the surprising District 1 winners, New Madrid County Central, take on Scott City at New Madrid at 4 p.m.

NMCC took down the district's top team Malden in a shocking 15-0 win. Scott City, not to be outdone, took down Clearwater 12-11 which was another No. 1 seed.

NMCC defeated Scott City 11-7 during the Eagles' third game of the season. I'll be at this game and provide as many twitter updates as I can. You can follow us at @sd_sports.

Chaffee will take on Valle in a battle of state-ranked teams.

The Red Devils sit a spot behind second-ranked Valle at No. 3, according to the latest state poll. Valle was the state runner-up last season.

Chaffee's Cody Payne is expected to take the hill. Payne held Bloomfield scoreless during the district championship game last Tuesday.

This game will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Harmon Field in Chaffee.

I'm dubbing the Class 1 sectional as 'The Farewell Game'.

Starting at 4 p.m. at Cooter, both Oran and the Wildcats will say goodbye to their longtime coaches following the season. Oran's Mitch Wood and Cooter's Allen Crawford have 60 years of coaching experience between them. I'm sure I just made a lot of people feel really, really old.

But as for the game, Oran heads into this matchup with an unblemished playoff record of 5-0 against Cooter. The Eagles, the state's No. 2 ranked team, has made two-straight final four appearances and are primed to make another return with a senior-laden team. Cooter, ranked 10th, has won their last eight district championships.

Which team will be saying goodbye to their coach?

Which teams move on?

Here is a preview of the NMCC-Scott City game: http://www.standard-democrat.com/story/1970391.html

And here's one for Chaffee-Valle: http://www.standard-democrat.com/story/1970390.html