Mizzou sends Daniel Boone Little League off to Midwest Region Tournament

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Daniel Boone Little League 12U squad is Whitestown, Indiana bound.

Before the All-Stars head out to their first Midwest Region Tournament since 2021, the Mizzou baseball team gave them a send-off at Taylor Stadium. Daniel Boone took batting practice with the Tigers, ahead of their first game in Indiana, on Friday.

"This is this is awesome for the boys," All-Stars manager Jeremy Bexten said. "I mean, they've been building to this All-Star team for years...To have the community sport, to have Mizzou behind us, to reach out to offer us this field, it's awesome for these boys. Honestly, it's gonna help get ready for the big stage."

Daniel Boone Little League is going to Whitestown fresh off of a dominant run in the state tournament. The All-Stars swept the action, 3-0, allowing just one run across three games and clinching the title on Sunday with a shutout win over Webb City.

Now, this group of some of Columbia's best young baseball stars will head to the national stage, hoping to punch a ticket to the Little League World Series, a stage the club hasn't reached since 2006.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience. You really only get to do this one time and pretty special," Henry Reid, a player on the 12U squad said.

"The constant message is these kids have earned it," Bexten said. "These kids are some of the best ball players around, they know how to play the game, they know how to play the game at a very high level. They just got to remember that when they get out there. Nothing's changed. It's still the game of baseball."

Mizzou baseball coach Kerrick Jackson said he couldn't pass up an opportunity to support these young ball players in this one-of-a-kind experience.

"What we want to do is recognize the fact that they're doing something on a national level. We want to support the baseball in this area as much as possible, so once we knew that these kids are going on to the regionals, like, hey, let's get them out there and let them know that we're supporting them and give them a little fun experience," Jackson said. "Come out here and take [batting practice] and kind of pump them up a little bit for they go out there and and take on that challenge."

"Ultimately the goal for us is to get as many kids from the state as possible to be part of our program, because when you bring those kids in, it means something to them just a little bit more than it does to anybody else," Jackson continued, when asked what it means to have this level of talent in the state of Missouri. "So, with kids that have grown up in this footprint, and then to have them go on and be baseball players that can excel at that level, you create some brand loyalty and you come in here and they're dying to come here, as opposed to us trying to necessarily recruit them. They're waiting for the phone call from us when that time comes. So, these types of experiences for these kids and coming to our camps and doing those kind of things. In my time here, we've had those kids that say I've been coming to camp since I was seven, and now I'm here. It's like a dream come true for them, so anything we can do to help is what we want to be able to do."