The Green Wave are going to have a hard time playing a final four game more interesting the their past two games, and that's probably good because their fans might not survive anything worse.
"My family has told me to stop giving them heart attacks, going right down to the wire," Malden pitcher and second baseman Tye Miller said. "Everybody loves it, the whole town has been behind us and supporting us this whole run. We just hope to keep it going and not let them down."
Added Gavin Bristow, who scored the walk-off run to send Malden to the MSHSAA Class 3 semifinals, "It was just a lot of, 'Man you have to make every game interesting don't you.' Everybody is excited, we all want to be there and our families support us. They know we want it more than anything.
"If we weren't 100 percent into it, we wouldn't be where we are right now. We really shouldn't be right here, but since we all commit, we never give up, we do our best to play the best we can. We put together, I think, is one of the best teams that has come through and we want to win it all."
Even the ballpark lights in Malden aren't immune to the damage to the community these guys are causing. In Friday's practice, Miller shanked a swing with the fungo bat down the first base line that shattered one of the stadium lights. It was cool at first, then he realized they had to clean up all that glass.
"It was worth it," Miller said.
This is the first time Malden baseball has made it past the first round of the state playoffs, and the games have been well worth the price of admission.
To go full "Star Trek" and go where they've never gone before, the Green Wave had to beat Scott City, which beat Malden 8-6 in the same round in 2015 when the current seniors were freshman.
Mason Brown was a shortstop back then and in leading up to the rematch he dwelled on the errors he made. As a senior, he started on the mound and was relieved after the Rams took a 3-0 lead. Miller immediately gave up four more.
The Green Wave were down 7-0, nine outs left in their season and hadn't gotten a hit.
Bristow took the first step with a leadoff double to start the bottom of the fifth and scored on an error.
Dee Triplett added a two-run home run in the sixth, but the Green Wave were still down four runs with two outs and runners on the corners in the bottom of the seventh.
Dushawn Butler doubled, rolling things over to the top of the lineup and putting the game-winning run in the on-deck circle in freshman Drew Blankenship.
Miller doubled and Blankenship dove head first into first base to beat out an infield single.
Down a run, Bristow pulled a hard grounder just past the third basemen. Scott City intentionally walked Triplett, putting Blankenship on third.
With a third-string freshman catcher behind the plate, Blankenship didn't hesitate on the first passed ball of the game and scored.
In the quarterfinals against West County, Malden took a 3-0 lead before Miller, who had trouble finding the strike zone all game, gave up the tying run in the sixth.
In relief, Triplett escaped a bases-loaded, one out jam in the seventh and then struck out the side in the eighth.
In similar fashion to the Scott City game, Bristow opened the bottom of the eighth with a double.
With two outs, he stole third and scored the walk-off run on another passed ball, which just like Scott City, was the first passed ball West County had allowed.
"We hit our high point around the middle of the season. At the beginning of districts we fell down a little bit. - We just found ways to win and now we are starting to hit our peak again, it is coming together at the right time," Brown said.
Malden (24-5) will face Holden (23-4) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. The other semifinal between Hallsville (20-4) and Strafford (24-4) will follow. The third-place game is Wednesday at 11 a.m. and the championship will follow.
Three Green Wave expect to see Holden senior Peyton Seiz on the mound. Seiz is also Holden's starting catcher, which means either sophomore Sterling Phillips or freshman Ryan Miller will be trying to avoid a passed ball in the state semifinals.
Seiz is 6-0 this season with a 0.93 and 104 strikeouts against nine walks. He has allowed eight earned runs in 60 2/3 innings.
Holden is hitting .291 as a team with five starters batting better than .300.
The Eagles have hit three home runs all season, two of them by Seiz, who also leads the team with 21 RBIs and two triples.
Andrew Martin has 35 of the team's 50 stolen bases and covers a lot of ground at shortstop.
"We know that they are going to be good. They made it to the final four to. When you get down this far, everybody is going to be good. It is just about who brings it on any given day and we just have to be the one to bring it and press the issue more than they do," Miller said.
Malden is hitting .330 as a team, led by Triplett's scary .520 batting average with 26 RBIs, 12 doubles and five home runs. Triplett even has 13 stolen bases on the season, which is fourth on the team.
Three days prior to the game against Scott City, Malden coach Tim Harmon said he didn't know if he would start Brown, Miller or Triplett as all three had been struggling recently.
While Holden has a clear No. 1 pitcher, Malden has a triumvirate.
Brown is 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA over 46 innings. Miller is 5-3 with a 3.17 ERA over 33 1/3 innings and Triplett is 5-2 with a 2.26 ERA over 37 2/3 innings. The trio are within three strikeouts of each other and have all walked between 30-38 batters.
"It is all about confidence going in. Whoever wants it the most is going to come out on top. It is all about who wants it more going in there, having the drive to win, making the plays," Bristow said. "Whoever wants it more is going to make that special play, make that crucial hit, maybe steal a base when they are down, just hopping on it when we get a lead instead of them winning the ball game and end up winning the championship."