‘We just did that’: Pair of inside-the-park home runs leads Illinois past Missouri in all-star game

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Jansen Lawson couldn’t possibly do it, too, could he?

Yes, he could. And he did.

After Quincy High School graduate Brady Lowe hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the top of the first inning of Saturday’s Missouri vs. Illinois All-Star Game at the Veterans Sports Complex, Lawson, also a former Blue Devil, came to bat with runners on first and second with no outs in the second. He drove a 2-1 pitch from Hannibal’s Kane Wilson to right-center field.

Lawson couldn’t have walked out into the outfield and placed the ball more perfectly in the gap. It bounded off the turf and rolled all the way to the wall.

“In my head I was thinking three for sure,” Lawson said. “I was making sure I got there. They kept saying ‘three,’ and then all of a sudden I heard somebody yell ‘four’ and I was like, ‘I better turn it on. I better get going.’”

Lawson turned on the afterburners and scored standing up to extend the Illinois squad’s lead to 11-1. Illinois went on to win 16-10.

“When I walked into the dugout, it hit me like, ‘We just did that,’” Lawson said. “That’s cool.”

Lowe’s line drive off Missouri starting pitcher Graysen Crabill in the top of the first eluded center fielder Jackson Stewart’s dive and — like Lawson’s — seemingly rolled forever.

“I thought he was going to catch it,” Lowe said. “I was just jogging to first and then he dropped it, and I just started running.”

Lowe’s grand slam came in a seven-run Illinois first inning. All these runs were charged to Crabill, but he’s not dwelling on it too much.

“It’s definitely not how I wanted it to go, but at the end of the day, it’s just for fun,” said Crabill, the Hannibal graduate. “It’s not really going on a record or anything.”

Crabill said getting the nod to start an all-star game on his home field was quite an honor.

“These are supposed to be the best kids, so just being on this team is really cool,” Crabill said.

Crabill got to share the field with former Hannibal teammates Ryan Ross and Wilson.

“It kind of felt like high school with them,” Crabill said. “They’re great teammates, great players, the best people to be on the field with.”

Crabill has decided not to play baseball in college, so this likely marks the final time he will step on a baseball field as a player.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Crabill said. “Maybe it will in a couple weeks.”

Likewise, Ross will not continue his baseball career in college. He has committed to play football at Truman State.

“This game will be one for the books,” Ross said. “The last game playing together, an all-star game, it’s pretty special.”

Wilson will play baseball at Iowa Western Community College, but he said this all-star game will forever hold a special place in his baseball memory bank.

“It was a blast,” Wilson said. “We haven’t played together in a couple months, and it was very fun to get out there and play with them again.” 

Hannibal baseball has always been in Wilson’s blood.

“I grew up wanting to start for Hannibal baseball,” Wilson said. “That’s what I started playing baseball for. It was fun while it lasted, but every story comes to an end. Now it’s time to go play baseball somewhere else and start a new chapter.”

Lowe and Lawson will begin new chapters, as well, but they will stay at home to do so. Lowe will join the Quincy University baseball program, while Lawson will head across town to play at John Wood Community College.

“I think once I start college I feel like it’s going to be a big difference,” Lowe said. “The practices are going to be way different, way more competitive. Classes are going to get a lot harder, a lot more responsibilities.”

Jansen Lawson had played for his father — QHS coach Rick Lawson — for nearly his whole life.

“Realizing that’s not going to happen anymore, it hit hard,” Jansen Lawson said.

But he and Lowe made sure to provide one more memorable moment before wrapping up their high school careers.