Bearcats ready for new season, will face Notre Dame at Busch Stadium

The Dexter Bearcats baseball program has been on the rise the last few season — and the Bearcats soon will get to showcase their success on Missouri's most famous baseball diamond.

Dexter will square off with SEMO Conference rival Notre Dame of Cape Girardeau on Wednesday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, right after the end of the Major League Baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels.

“Being excited is a good way to put it,” Dexter coach Steven Edwards said. “We have had an amazing amount of support and excitement for the baseball program to have this honor. To think of it as a player, how cool is it to think of all the greats that have played on the field at Busch Stadium? And now we have our own Dexter Bearcats that are going to get to say they also played on that field. Man, how cool of story that will be for these young men to have forever.”

Dexter's journey to Busch Stadium began last year, when Cardinals minor-league hurler Grant Black came to Dexter as a motivational speaker.

“I had the privilege in coaching against Black’s father in Arkansas and helped work with Black as a young pitcher,” Edwards said. “He passed me the name and idea in getting our program this amazing chance. I was able to contact Ty Rogers, (who) is an executive for the St. Louis Cardinals. We talked a little and Dexter High School was given this opportunity.”

Edwards also credits the administration at Dexter High School for its support of the program for making the Bearcats' trip to Busch Stadium possible.

“We have such amazing support from our athletic director (Josh) Dowdy, high school principal (Eric), superintendent (Amy) James and assistant superintendent (Gavin) Miller,” Edwards said. “Plus there were some awesome people in the community that helped us out to make this happen.

“That is what is so special about Dexter. This is a community that wants all to succeed and do well in everything they do. The love in the community is simply amazing.”

And that support is one of the many reasons Dexter Bearcats baseball is on the rise, Edwards said. The Bearcats played their best baseball at the end of the season last spring, making it to the SEMO Conference championship game and also playing for a district title as well before falling short against Fredericktown.

“The last couple of seasons we had a lot of success,” Edwards said. “And now us coaches feel we are a little stronger as well. Last season, we played a lot of youth and we came up just short of winning a district championship against an outstanding Fredericktown team. Our season came together at the right time last year. … And now we are one year older, faster and stronger.”

The Bearcats open the season March 21 at defending Class 5 state champion Willard.

“Us coaches are so excited about this season here at Dexter,” Edwards said. “We have a very tough schedule and not a lot of time to rest. But we believe in playing the best competition out there to get us ready for that end of the season run at a championship. We believe that is where we should be every year.

“Our offseason has been a solid one this year. We have a great weightlifting coach, (football and track) coach (Chad) Jamerson, that works hard to help get all our athletes ready for the upcoming seasons. We have thrown a lot of bullpens and the young men have been working hard in the cages. I feel we are ahead of schedule in our pitching for sure this year at this point. We still have a lot to work on before the first pitch against Willard. But I assure you this — Dexter baseball is all in.”