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PITTSBURG —
The St. Mary’s Colgan Panthers and the Frontenac Raiders played a Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League twinbill Thursday with both games at the caliber of a state championship game and Colgan head coach Mike Watt reached a career milestone when Colgan won the first game 3-2.
After the doubleheader, Watt thanked his Mom and his Dad, his wife Christy, his sons Willie and Jesse, his assistant coaches like current assistant Kyle Wolf and former assistant Luke Wachter, coaches who impacted him like Frank Crespino and Pat Forbes, and the great administration, atmosphere, parents and players at Colgan over a successful career. Watt called himself truly blessed.
“The wins and the losses aren’t something I really think about,” Watt said. “When I coach, I get lost in the game. I guess that’s why you call it a passion. When I’m out here and out on the field, I don’t think about anything but what’s going on in the ballpark and I get totally lost in it.”
Frontenac head coach Bill Sullivan, as well as Girard head coach Keith Matlock and Riverton head coach Danny Weaver, gave Watt congratulations.
“He’s deserving of it,” Sullivan said. “He’s had a great program over here and he’s done some tremendous things. I commend him and I told him that I didn’t like that it came against us but it had to happen sometime. He’s a great coach and he deserves everything.”
No. 500 happened at JayCee Ballpark, home park of many Colgan victories for many years.
“This is such a great park,” Watt said. “The city’s blessed to have this and it’s such a fan-friendly atmosphere. It’s just a great place to play baseball and I know our kids appreciate what they have. It’s nice to win at home.”
Frontenac earned the doubleheader split on the powerful pitching of Matt Standlee and RBI hits from Brett Macary and Nick Zafuta, winning 2-0.
Over 14 innings, Frontenac and Colgan totaled seven runs on 16 hits as Colgan pitchers Sam Gilbert, Christian Cedeno and Jack Villamaria and Frontenac pitchers Blake Vail and Standlee pitched high-caliber baseball.
“The pitching was just exceptional,” Watt said. “Everybody that went out there. Blake Vail and Matt Standlee and Sam, Christian, Jack, they all went out and pitched exceptionally well. It was fun to watch and it was exactly what we expected, two top teams going at it and it was fun. These are the games that kids love to play in and coaches love to coach.”
The St. Mary’s Colgan Panthers and the Frontenac Raiders played a Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League twinbill Thursday with both games at the caliber of a state championship game and Colgan head coach Mike Watt reached a career milestone when Colgan won the first game 3-2.
After the doubleheader, Watt thanked his Mom and his Dad, his wife Christy, his sons Willie and Jesse, his assistant coaches like current assistant Kyle Wolf and former assistant Luke Wachter, coaches who impacted him like Frank Crespino and Pat Forbes, and the great administration, atmosphere, parents and players at Colgan over a successful career. Watt called himself truly blessed.
“The wins and the losses aren’t something I really think about,” Watt said. “When I coach, I get lost in the game. I guess that’s why you call it a passion. When I’m out here and out on the field, I don’t think about anything but what’s going on in the ballpark and I get totally lost in it.”
Frontenac head coach Bill Sullivan, as well as Girard head coach Keith Matlock and Riverton head coach Danny Weaver, gave Watt congratulations.
“He’s deserving of it,” Sullivan said. “He’s had a great program over here and he’s done some tremendous things. I commend him and I told him that I didn’t like that it came against us but it had to happen sometime. He’s a great coach and he deserves everything.”
No. 500 happened at JayCee Ballpark, home park of many Colgan victories for many years.
“This is such a great park,” Watt said. “The city’s blessed to have this and it’s such a fan-friendly atmosphere. It’s just a great place to play baseball and I know our kids appreciate what they have. It’s nice to win at home.”
Frontenac earned the doubleheader split on the powerful pitching of Matt Standlee and RBI hits from Brett Macary and Nick Zafuta, winning 2-0.
Over 14 innings, Frontenac and Colgan totaled seven runs on 16 hits as Colgan pitchers Sam Gilbert, Christian Cedeno and Jack Villamaria and Frontenac pitchers Blake Vail and Standlee pitched high-caliber baseball.
“The pitching was just exceptional,” Watt said. “Everybody that went out there. Blake Vail and Matt Standlee and Sam, Christian, Jack, they all went out and pitched exceptionally well. It was fun to watch and it was exactly what we expected, two top teams going at it and it was fun. These are the games that kids love to play in and coaches love to coach.”
“It was great pitching,” Sullivan said. “We knew that coming in. We felt comfortable with our guys and we knew what we were going to get from them and they’ve got some good guys they run out there. Everybody threw well tonight. I thought it was very well-played high school baseball.”
Watt said that both games had the atmosphere of state playoff baseball.
Gilbert earned a complete-game victory in the first game, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out eight.
Trailing 2-0, Colgan scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth as bottom-of-the-order hitters Drew Dawson and Colton Gilbert reached base. With two outs, after Dawson found himself in a pickle between third and home, Nate Grimaldi walked to load the bases and then senior battery mates Jesse Newcomb and Gilbert delivered in the clutch.
“We had two seniors, Jesse Newcomb and Sam Gilbert, come up with two very big hits to tie the game and then put us ahead,” Watt said. “What a great thing for those seniors to be able to remember that they did that.”
Newcomb drove in two with his bloop single and Gilbert plated Grimaldi on his RBI single.
Standlee came out and pitched superbly in the second game, shutting out Colgan on three hits and striking out 11, including the side in the first inning and the final two hitters in the seventh.
Sullivan said that he was proud of both of his pitchers for wanting the ball Thursday night and pitching lights out.
“I thought our guys were down a little bit after the first game and I was glad to see them pick themselves back up and battle,” Sullivan added. “It was a grinder. We didn’t score until late and it was wearing on you. It was just good to get a win. They always tell you if you split, win the second game because that way you have some momentum.”
Frontenac (15-2) scored one in the sixth and one in the seventh, utilizing a little small ball and timely hitting.
“That’s what you work on and plan to execute,” Sullivan said. “We did that a little better the second game.”
Gus Brunetti led off the sixth with a walk, Bryce Burdette bunted Brunetti to second, Bryan Wade hit a fly ball deep enough into right for Brunetti to tag and advance to third and Brunetti scored on a Brett Macary double to left.
Ross Edge reached on an error to lead off the seventh and Blake Barto moved pinchrunner Ethan Powell forward on another well-executed sacrifice bunt. Powell scored on a Zafuta single and Frontenac had more than enough runs for Standlee.
Colgan (10-4) hosts Wichita Word of Life on Saturday and plays Girard next Tuesday and Carl Junction next Wednesday. Frontenac hosts Southeast on Monday, a doubleheader rescheduled from earlier this week.
Game One
Colgan baseball 3, Frontenac 2
FHS 000 200 0 — 2 5 2
SMC 000 030 X — 3 5 1
Blake Vail and Bryan Wade. Sam Gilbert and Jesse Newcomb. WP: Gilbert. LP: Vail. SH: Ross Edge; Gilbert. LOB: FHS 6, SMC 5.
Game Two
Frontenac 2, Colgan 0
FHS 000 001 1 — 2 4 2
SMC 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
Matt Standlee and Bryan Wade. Christian Cedeno, Jack Villamaria (7) and Jesse Newcomb. WP: Standlee. LP: Cedeno. 2B: Brett Macary. SH: Wade, Blake Barto, Bryce Burdette. SB: Ethan Powell; Cedeno, Tucker Hoffman.
Mike Watt, Colgan baseball
W L CW CL Postseason Result
1986 17 4 17 4 Regional Champions
1987 8 11 25 15
1988 14 7 39 22 Regional Champions
1989 18 5 57 27 Regional Champions
1990 14 6 71 33 Regional Champions
1991 9 12 80 45 Regional Champions
1992 20 5 100 50 3-2-1A State Runner-ups
1993 20 3 120 53 3-2-1A State Champions
1994 19 4 139 57 3-2-1A State 4th Place
1995 17 4 156 61 3-2-1A State 3rd Place
1996 15 3 171 64
1997 24 1 195 65 2-1A State Champions
1998 20 5 215 70 2-1A State Champions
1999 23 2 238 72 2-1A State Champions
2000 19 6 257 78 2-1A State 4th Place
2001 24 1 281 79 2-1A State Champions
2002 19 5 300 84 2-1A State Runner-ups
2003 16 4 316 88 2-1A State 4th Place
2004 24 2 340 90 2-1A State Champions
2005 25 1 365 91 2-1A State Champions
2006 23 3 388 94 2-1A State Champions
2007 19 4 407 98 2-1A State Champions
2008 24 1 431 99 2-1A State Champions
2009 22 1 453 100 2-1A State Champions
2010 24 2 477 102 2-1A State Champions
2011 22 4 499 106 2-1A State Runner-ups
2012 10 4 509 110
Overall record: 500-110 (.820 winning percentage)
24 state tournament appearances
12 state championships (1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
3 state runner-ups
1 third-place finish
1 fourth-place finish
7 consecutive state titles (2004-2010)
15 CNC League titles
Seven years of state titles (games at state)
2004, No. 2 seed, 24-2 final record
Sylvan/Lucas-Luray 15-0
Elkhart 9-2
Oxford 14-4
2005, No. 1, 25-1
Moundridge 4-1
St. Marys 7-1
Oxford 12-2
2006, No. 2, 22-3
Elkhart 15-0
Sedan 10-0
St. Marys 9-2
2007, No. 6, 19-4
Canton-Galiva 8-5 (10 innings)
St. Marys 8-7
West Elk 12-1
2008, No. 1, 24-1
Spearville 12-0
Sedan 11-0
St. Marys 10-0
2009, No. 2, 22-1
Cottonwood Falls 11-1 (6 innings)
Humboldt 15-0
Moscow 10-1
2010, No. 1, 24-2
Moundridge 6-1
Ellis 13-0
Valley Falls 12-2
Note: Coach Watt does not figure byes into his win total.
