Inspired by college coach, Liberty baseball's Tony Mills has his team playing the right way
There was a lot on Tony Mills' plate Friday, the last day of finals week and the last day of school at Liberty High School.
The P.E. teacher has had kids "run for 10% of their final grade - I'm old school," he said. Also on this day, kids were turning in the locks on their gym lockers. He also got a parent stopping by whose son he coached and he asked how he's doing and whether he's still serving in the military.
"What branch is he in?" Mills said. "Air Force," she replied.
"Awesome! Tell him I said, ‘Hi,'" Mills said. "I will," she said as she left.
It's a hectic time of year, but once again Mills is showing up and covering all of his bases, pun not intended. Later in the day, his Liberty baseball team remained a primary focus. The team had a scheduled arrival at Bakersfield College's Gerry Collis Field on Friday to have a practice there under the lights.
"We'll get there at 5:30 p.m. and get going at 6 p.m. same as the game time on Saturday," Mills said. "It's a matter of dotting the I's and crossing the T's, another opportunity for our kids to not be surprised by anything."
Today, buses will take the Liberty contingent to Visalia's Valley Strong Ballpark to play in the CIF Central Section Division 1 championship game. Liberty, seeded fourth with a 24-7 record, will battle No. 2 seeded Fresno Bullard (19-7).
Mills has been coaching baseball for 33 years - 22 of that at Liberty, two at the junior varsity level and 20 for varsity - and yet all of it derives from the life-changing five and one-half years he spent as a student-athlete at Wichita State. He played baseball and learned a lot from Shockers head coach Gene Stephenson.
In charge from 1978 to 2013, Stephenson led for 36 seasons that produced a 1,837-673-3 record, seven NCAA College World Series appearances and the 1989 CWS championship. His teams made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances and won the Missouri Valley Conference title 26 times. His teams never had a losing season at Wichita State.
Mills, who played there from 1990 to 1993, admits that much of what he's built his coaching philosophy and other elements on were shaped by Stephenson, who is 80.
"It was a time where it was ingrained in me to play baseball and do things the right way," Mills said. "He surrounded himself with good people. I learned from that. We have great coaches, great administration that is so supportive and wants us to be the best we can, every day. Be consistent. That's the way I attack it."
It's common after Liberty games for Mills to stress that his goal is for his team "to get better" in practice.
It may be a relentless pursuit for Mills, but he strives to get the best out of his players. In 2026, the Patriots have been the team to watch.
Blessed with young talent, Liberty's run to the sectional final has been a team effort, a good mix of veterans, but mostly a must-see team due to the presence of sophomore catcher-relief pitcher Brogan Witcher, who has 14 home runs and is tied for the team RBI lead of 40 with freshman outfielder Pierce Buckey and his 12 home runs. Junior utility Gavin Williams has 33 RBI and also a dozen homers.
The power surge isn't just about the underclassmen. Senior Braden Turman has 10 home runs. Other guys don't have double-digit totals, but there is definite pop throughout the lineup. Liberty as a team has 61 homers.
"It's a unique situation with so many players with size, strength and speed," Mills said. "I've had players before but never this many players."
The next step is getting a section title. Liberty's last one was in 2024, when the Patriots went on to win the CIF Southern California Regional title, which served as a state title. Liberty went 32-4.
The good thing for Mills and the younger guys is that they do have players on the roster who went through the road they're on now.
Seniors Brodie Snow, Brody Berry, Jason Guevara and even junior Cash Gerecke, who pitched a couple of innings as a freshman in the 2024 CIF run and will be Liberty's starter against Bullard, can provide guidance and leadership.
"It instilled a lot of confidence and we really bonded together," Snow said of the 2024 championship team. "It never felt like we were going to lose. We always felt like we had a chance of winning. Even in the state game when we were down three runs and with one out left, we all had this kind of calmness that (then-senior) Brock (Thompson) is going to get it done."
Sure enough, Thompson, now playing at Oklahoma State, hit a game-tying, three-run home run against Moorpark in that SoCal Regional D-2 game to send it to extra innings. Liberty won, 6-5, in 10 innings.
But that's the thing about Liberty then that continues today. When Mills said he wants his teams to get better, he and his coaching staff are using that time constructively.
"Our practices involve a lot of teaching and putting our players in intensified situations because we're trying to get them to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. We don't want them thinking so much as we want them reacting," Mills said.
Liberty already has a built-in reason to get better right now. Bullard won 5-4 in the team's 2026 season-opening game.
"We opened with a loss to Bullard. We've got to go get it back (Saturday)," Snow said.
Again, drawing from his time with coach Stephenson, Mills is an attention-to-details guy.
"When I say that, it means we want to work on things you don't do well so we can raise their level of play," he said. "Drawing from successful teams I played on at Wichita State and going to College World Series, you knew you were in it for the long haul."
"Do things the right way and understand that when you fail, you have to learn from that. You have to make an adjustment. If you don't adjust, you'll continue to fail in this game of failure.
"It's about learning that you're not going to be successful every time, but even when you fail, you can still get better."
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 12:07 PM.