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"Coach P (Tony Perkins) would say bunting," the Francis Howell senior said with a laugh.

Perkins chuckled when he heard the response.

"Yeah, we work on bunting," Perkins said. "We work on a lot of things."

Whatever the true secret is to the Vikings baseball program's success, Wednesday morning saw a concrete measure as 11 players from the powerhouse put pen to paper and signed their national letters of intent to play at the collegiate level.

"I'm very proud of each and every one of them," Perkins said. "That's one of my biggest goals, is try to get them moved on to the college level. It's really a testament to their work ethic. Those guys are working their tails off right now. We had 11 guys sign today and we have 13 all together. That's pretty doggone good."

Joining Vaughn, who signed with Wichita State, teammates Mason Bogard (Moberly Area CC), Jack Brettschneider (Moberly Area CC), Noah Jones (East Central College), Collin Lovelady (Heartland Community College), Matthew Merzlicker (State Fair Community College), Matthew Rauser (Maryville), Braden Ray (Missouri Southern), Eli Skidmore (SLU), Mason Burke (Spoon River) and Shane Ernst (College of St. Scholastica) all signed their letters of intent on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday was the first day high school athletes could sign a national letter of intent with NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II schools.

Seeing his teammates sign their letters put a smile on Leo Humbert's face. He is expected to sign with the University of Missouri in December.

"It makes me super happy because I know all of them have worked super hard to get to this moment through offseason and in-season training," Humbert said.

While Vaughn is capable with the bat and bunting, the senior has collected 42 RBI in the past two years and posted 53 hits with a Vikings uniform on. While on the team, Howell has advanced to the semifinal round each of the last three seasons.

A key piece in the cog has been Skidmore, who is taking his low- to mid-90s mph fastball less than 30 miles east to the campus of ºüÀêÊÓƵ University.

"I have a good relationship with the coaches, and I know that I'm gonna play early, pitch as a freshman, and that's a big thing. Plus, it's close to home," Skidmore said.

The Billikens were one of the first programs to reach out as the recruiting frenzy took hold and Skidmore wanted to go to the program that clearly wanted to keep the in-state star.

"Meant a lot that they were one of the early ones, because I had my eyes set on them," Skidmore said.

As a junior, Skidmore totaled 37 strikeouts in 34 innings last season as the Vikings added a fourth-place trophy to their treasure trove of trophies.

He will join former teammate Adam Shipley, who's already at SLU. Like Shipley, Skidmore dabbled with football during the offseason, but he never entertained the idea of leaving the diamond.

"Baseball is my future," Skidmore said.

Vaughn wasn't shy when asked what the goal for this year was after three consecutive semifinal rounds and a state title appearance in 2022.

"In the past three years, we've gotten fourth, third, and second," Vaughn said. "So we're looking for first this year."