In 2022, Richmond varsity baseball coach Nick Persell and his Spartans played for a district title. In 2023, they want to win one. “In this sport, if you can get through your district, … you (have) got a chance to make it all the way, in my opinion,” Persell said during a March 14 practice at Southview Park, Richmond’s home field. Such was the case last season. The Spartans fell in the Class 4 District 13 title game to Marshall. The Owls knocked off Oak Grove in sectionals and Excelsior Springs in the quarterfinals, then fell to Southern Boone in extra innings in the semifinals and to Kennett in the Class 4 third-place game. “We felt like we were just as good a team as they were – and they were better on that day – but we felt like, if we would’ve won that game last year, that we would’ve had just as good a chance to make a final-four run,” Persell said. Senior catcher Aidan Ivison, a threeyear member of the program, also likes Richmond’s chances of contending for a state title,…