McDonald working from the ground up
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St. Joseph Christian coach Andrew McDonald takes in the action during one of the Lions’ summer league games. He took over the program this past June. It is the first year St. Joseph Christian has had a varsity baseball program.
Sometimes, all it takes is faith and hard work.
From the start of this past summer until the St. Joseph Christian School’s first baseball game in program history, Maryville resident and Lions coach Andrew McDonald has put in plenty of both.
McDonald, who played one season (2008-2009) with the Northwest Missouri State baseball team under current coach Darin Loe before shoulder injuries put an end to his playing career, was serving as a pastor at First Baptist Church in Bedford, Iowa when he got a call from Ron Moutray.
“I had been friends with his parents for a long time, so I knew Andrew really well,” Moutray said. “I knew I wanted him to be the guy to coach this team because of his background and his knowledge of the game.”
When McDonald got the call, he knew their offer was serious, but he didn’t give it much thought as he wanted to focus on ministry.
As the months went on though, something kept drawing him back to the game he loved. He was a baseball player himself growing up and prepped at East Buchanan.
“It just felt like a calling from God,” he said. “It just felt really right — like this is what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to take this opportunity. It happened seemingly overnight.”
It didn’t hurt that the school offered the him the opportunity to do both — coach the baseball team and build a ministry at the school. St. Joseph Christian also allowed him the financial stability to make the drive from Bedford, where he is still a pastor at First Baptist and has been since February of 2016.
McDonald is set to marry his fiancé, Beth Davis, in July.
After his graduation from Northwest in 2013, he spent time interning at Laura Street Baptist Church in Maryville while helping out with Northwest’s Student Baptist Union. He scraped together enough money to live on from the BSU, as well as the Missionary Baptist Convention.
Building from scratch
St. Joseph Christian had always been competitive in other sports like basketball, football, track, and cross country.
Baseball, however, seemed to be the missing piece that had great interest from the school board and community.
Moutray’s son Josiah is a prime example of someone who missed out.
Josiah grew up playing travel baseball with various St. Joseph teams with his dad coaching. When he got to high school, there wasn’t a team at SJC, which effectively ended his baseball career.
“That was tough,” Mountray said. “He grew up playing the sport, and loved baseball, but he wasn’t able to play in high school.”
Josiah, now a sophomore at the University of Missouri, played football and basketball, then ran track during the spring.
Moutray helped lay the ground work for the team in the winter months by getting the players together that he knew wanted to play.
Josh Wing, a sophomore, hadn’t played baseball since third grade, but had always loved the sport.
He wanted in on the action.
“I’ve always wanted to play,” Wing said. “As soon as I heard they were getting a team together, my ears perked up.”
Parents started donating money to hit at indoor facilities and the Lions had a team by the time the summer league rolled around.
McDonald didn’t even meet his team until that first game in July. He took over a team that was mixed with players who had grown up with baseball every summer, some who hadn’t played since third grade, and some who had never played before.
There was one player who didn’t know that he was supposed to run to first base when he hit the ball. Some others didn’t know how to play catch.
It wasn’t exactly ground zero, but it wasn’t far off.
Both McDonald and Moutray, who was serving as the assistant coach, knew they had to go back to a lot of the basics.
“We had to teach them really how to play the game,” McDonald said. “We went over the basics of each position on the field and how to communicate with their teammates, situational base running, etc. There wasn’t really anything we didn’t go over.”
As expected, the summer slate got off to a rough start. St. Joseph Christian lost its first game 15-0. While coaching third base during the game, McDonald didn’t give a single signal.
Everyone on the team, especially McDonald, knew that things weren’t going to stay that way.
“When you start from the bottom, there’s really only one way you can go,” McDonald said.
While the team took other lopsided losses that summer, it was clear that it was trending upward faster than many expected.
The Lions ended the summer slate giving a 15-0 beating to the same team it had lost to by the same score the first game.
Moutray praises McDonald for his coaching style.
“He’s really good with working for the kids and coaching them at each level of stuff we work at,” Moutray said. “He’s really good and coaching the basics and getting on their level. If he knows that we’re not ready for a particular skill yet, he’ll just tell them we’re not there yet, and that we’ll get there.”
McDonald, who went back and served at Northwest as a volunteer assistant for the 2014-15 season and did a two-year commitment with Northwest’s Baptist Student Union, received a vote of confidence from Loe.
“Andrew has a lot of baseball knowledge. He was an infielder, but had the knowledge to play really any position,” Loe said. “I think he’ll do a great job down there.”
Play ball
The team continued to train and get better as much as they could in preparation for the seasons opener, which took place March 17 against Northeast Nodaway. The Lions used their pitching strength — their overall best asset — to get a 2-0 victory in their first ever varsity game. The opener against was played at Hyde Park as the construction of St. Joseph Christian’s field is not yet complete.
Four days later, the team suffered a 10-1 loss to East Atchison, but bounced back with an 11-1 road win at DeKalb on March 23.
Their March 28 game against West Nodaway was rescheduled to May 5 due to weather.
While the weather has been halting the process of late, most of the bleachers and fencing, as well as a concession stand are nearing completion. Most of the waiting game now is letting the sod settle on the field.
The baseball facility, which is located on the school’s campus near the football field, is being funded by private donors. While the school wouldn’t disclose the amount, the school hired Nemaha Landscape Construction, based out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Nemaha has done work on the University of Nebraska’s football and baseball fields, as well as the football fields for the University of Colorado and Washburn University.
The Lions are looking forward to their next step. Wing, currently playing on the school’s junior varsity squad, has come a long way himself.
“He has one of the best swings of anybody on the team,” Moutray said. “And I sit here surprised I’m saying that.”
McDonald, who divides his time between Bedford and St. Joseph Christian, where he teaches bible classes, gives a lot of credit to his players for how far they’ve come in a short amount of time.
“These kids have worked really hard to get to where they are,” McDonald said. “They come to every practice and every game excited and ready to go. Their enthusiasm is off the charts. It’s a really special group of kids. This whole thing has really been an act of God.”
While the program is still growing and learning, the Lions are a prime example of what faith and hard work can accomplish.
