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PITTSBURG —
With its 9-3 win over the Baxter Springs Lions in the Class 4A regional final Wednesday night at home, sweet home JayCee Ballpark, Pittsburg baseball returned to state for the first time since 2008.
Pittsburg senior pitcher Broc Bennett hit Baxter Springs senior leadoff hitter Colton Krokroskia with a pitch and senior Jono Crockett sacrificed Krokroskia into scoring position. Fellow senior Zak Himes drove in Krokroskia with a hard-hit single and Baxter Springs had the heart of its order coming up with one on.
The Lions had a great start, then momentum changed. Pittsburg senior catcher Dylan Gromer mostly earned his offer to play college baseball at Independence Community College next year for his defensive prowess and Himes and the Lions found out firsthand when Himes attempted to steal second. Gromer rifled a throw to Pittsburg shortstop Joe Wimmer and Wimmer tagged Himes for the second out.
“It shifted the momentum,” Pittsburg head coach Mike Wilbert said. “Dylan’s done a great job for us defensively and he took away their running game. They were not able to run and that set up double plays for us and it kept some things in order. Dylan’s a great defensive player. He’s been hitting the heck out of the baseball too but it’s been going right at people here lately and that’s kind of tough. But he keeps his head up and understands the game. He does a great job with our pitchers and good catchers are invaluable.”
The Pittsburg lineup converted into the “Attack of the Killer Bs” on Wednesday.
After leadoff hitter Wimmer reached on a fielding error, No. 2 man Spencer Bernhardt started his 3-for-4 night at the plate with a game-tying RBI double smashed into left center. Nick Vacca hit a sharp liner to short for an unlucky double play, negating a RBI possibility for Brandon Baker upon his triple. Baker also ended his night 3-4.
In the second, Bernhardt picked up his second RBI of the game as his bloop single into shallow right scored Tanner Ellis, following up on a Wimmer RBI single which plated Anthony McNeely.
Baker led off the third with a home run and Ellis would later score Gromer on an infield single. Gromer came up after Baker and singled.
Baxter Springs narrowed the lead to 5-2 in the fourth after Himes led off with a double and later scored on a Trey Price groundout.
With its 9-3 win over the Baxter Springs Lions in the Class 4A regional final Wednesday night at home, sweet home JayCee Ballpark, Pittsburg baseball returned to state for the first time since 2008.
Pittsburg senior pitcher Broc Bennett hit Baxter Springs senior leadoff hitter Colton Krokroskia with a pitch and senior Jono Crockett sacrificed Krokroskia into scoring position. Fellow senior Zak Himes drove in Krokroskia with a hard-hit single and Baxter Springs had the heart of its order coming up with one on.
The Lions had a great start, then momentum changed. Pittsburg senior catcher Dylan Gromer mostly earned his offer to play college baseball at Independence Community College next year for his defensive prowess and Himes and the Lions found out firsthand when Himes attempted to steal second. Gromer rifled a throw to Pittsburg shortstop Joe Wimmer and Wimmer tagged Himes for the second out.
“It shifted the momentum,” Pittsburg head coach Mike Wilbert said. “Dylan’s done a great job for us defensively and he took away their running game. They were not able to run and that set up double plays for us and it kept some things in order. Dylan’s a great defensive player. He’s been hitting the heck out of the baseball too but it’s been going right at people here lately and that’s kind of tough. But he keeps his head up and understands the game. He does a great job with our pitchers and good catchers are invaluable.”
The Pittsburg lineup converted into the “Attack of the Killer Bs” on Wednesday.
After leadoff hitter Wimmer reached on a fielding error, No. 2 man Spencer Bernhardt started his 3-for-4 night at the plate with a game-tying RBI double smashed into left center. Nick Vacca hit a sharp liner to short for an unlucky double play, negating a RBI possibility for Brandon Baker upon his triple. Baker also ended his night 3-4.
In the second, Bernhardt picked up his second RBI of the game as his bloop single into shallow right scored Tanner Ellis, following up on a Wimmer RBI single which plated Anthony McNeely.
Baker led off the third with a home run and Ellis would later score Gromer on an infield single. Gromer came up after Baker and singled.
Baxter Springs narrowed the lead to 5-2 in the fourth after Himes led off with a double and later scored on a Trey Price groundout.
In the next half-inning, Pittsburg gained a 9-2 lead after Bernhardt scored on an error and Bennett smashed a bases-clearing three-run double, plating Vacca, Gromer and McNeely.
“Extra-base hits are huge,” Wilbert said. “They really help things to progress. I’m extremely happy and proud of these kids. They deserve it. They’ve got so much better and we’ll see if we can make some noise in that 4A state tournament (next week).”
On the mound, senior pitchers Bennett and Wimmer gave Pittsburg what they have provided all season — quality innings. Bennett gave Pittsburg five strong innings and Wimmer allowed no runs on no hits in the sixth and seventh innings to shut the door on a feisty Baxter Springs team.
“Absolutely, they threw strikes,” Wilbert said. “Broc had five innings and we knew he could only pitch so many innings in a so-many hour and day timespan. Broc had five so we knew coming in he would give us five. Joe said he would close. I thought they both did what they have been doing all season long, which is throw the ball over the plate and when we get our defense straight and we score a few runs behind them, we’re pretty tough.”
Baxter Springs played without arguably its best player, Austin Karnes, who pinch hit in the fourth and could hardly make it down the line after hitting into a 5-3 groundout.
Pittsburg reaches state with a 16-5 record — Southeast Kansas League co-champions and regional champions.
Pittsburg seniors Wimmer, Bennett, Gromer, Baker, Jornell Fondren (who made a sensational catch in left to end the game), Adam Redd, Zach Baden and Cole Angermayer go to state for the first time. Earlier in the spring, Wilbert announced to his players he would be retiring after the season.
“This is really nice,” Wilbert said. “I’m happy for the kids. I’m happy for me. But I’ve seen a lot of baseball games and I’m not trying to make this one not important because this one is super important but I’m always happy for the kids because they’re the ones doing the work. It’s really sweet and we’re going to really enjoy it. We’re going to take a day or two off and get our seniors graduated, then we’re going to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and see what we can get done.”
Jefferson West (18-2), Mulvane (20-3), Wichita Trinity (18-3), Ottawa (19-4) and St. James Academy (15-6) are other state qualifiers in Class 4A. Play begins at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina next Friday.
