Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Ben Graves celebrates with Ryker Mahnke and Donnie Krehbiel after the latter two score the tying runs in a fiery comeback for the Firebirds during a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
OVERLAND PARK — When Finn Moore stepped to the dish with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and trailing 5-3, Free State baseball’s quest to repeat as state champions hung in the balance.
Moore more than delivered, lacing a single to left field that scored Ryker Mahnke and a diving Donnie Krehbiel, who narrowly beat the throw to home plate. Moore’s heroics sent the contest to extra innings, as the Firebirds prevailed over Olathe Northwest in a nine-inning thriller, 9-8.
“The nerves got high there for sure,” Moore said, adding that he turned to deep breathing techniques to calm those “jitters” during the critical at-bat.
“It’s a very mental game, and the mental approach matters a lot; staying calm. In baseball, you can’t ride highs or lows, you just have to stay even with yourself.”
The quarterfinal victory advances the second-seeded Firebirds to the state semifinals, where they’re slated to square off against sixth-seeded Shawnee Mission South. First pitch is set for 5:45 pm, Thursday at Wichita State University’s Eck Stadium. The teams previously matched up on May 2, with Free State earning a 9-7 victory. Shawnee Mission South’s head coach is also Matt Hill, a former Firebirds assistant coach and son of Free State head coach Mike Hill.
The other semifinals clash pits top-seeded Maize (27-2) against fifth-seeded Washburn Rural.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Donnie Krehbiel beats the tag at home for the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning during a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
Free State (25-4) faced a 5-1 deficit in the sixth inning, as their offense had fizzled to that point. That was due in large part to Olathe Northwest southpaw Brady Braswell, who struck out seven while yielding just one hit through five frames of work.
The Firebirds opened the sixth with a single off the bat of Ben Graves, Free State’s first base knock of the contest. Braswell was then removed after plunking Owen Lester to put runners on first and second with no outs.
The pitching change was just what the doctor ordered for Free State, which was quickly followed by Moore’s run-scoring single. Zane Shaw’s fielder’s choice ground out scored Lester to slice the Ravens’ lead to 5-3.
For Free State, the hard-throwing Shaw came on in relief in the sixth, surrendering a run, while also escaping a bases-loaded jam. Shaw then retired the side in order in the seventh inning to keep the Firebirds within striking distance.
After Moore’s hit tied the game 5-5 in the seventh, Shaw quickly found himself in trouble in the top of the eighth. An error, two hits, and a walk — capped off by Landon Hays’ two-RBI double down the left field line, led to a three-run inning and an 8-5 Ravens’ advantage.
“It was impressive what they were doing at the plate today,” Shaw said, adding that the Ravens were consistently making solid contact, even when Shaw was in a pitcher’s count.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Zane Shaw pitches against Olathe Northwest during a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
With their backs once again against the wall, the Firebirds mounted another furious rally. Down to their final two outs and nobody on base, Nathan Young, Carter Laubach, and Mahnke each reached to load the bases.
In a lefty-on-lefty matchup, Krehbiel was hit by a pitch from Ravens’ relief pitcher Owen Gray, scoring Young. Another lefty-on-lefty matchup saw Gray drill Lester with a fastball to bring in a run as the Firebirds closed the deficit to 8-7.
With two outs and the count full, Moore drew a walk that scored Mahnke to knot the contest, 8-8. And with Krehbiel representing the winning run on third base, Shaw flew out to left field to end the threat.
Shaw, who was being clocked on a radar gun by a major league scout from the Toronto Blue Jays, emerged from the top of the ninth unscathed, but with an elevated pitch count.
The bottom of the ninth opened with Ferris Dinkel drawing a leadoff walk. Young advanced Dinkel to second on a perfectly placed bunt. Dinkel then moved over to third on Gannon Edds’ wild pitch.
At the plate, Laubach nearly ended the game, but his fast-sinking liner to right field was snagged by Brody Comfort for the inning’s second out.
The Ravens wanted no parts of Mahnke, issuing an intentional walk. Edds was on the cusp of escaping the jam, but issued another walk on a payoff pitch to Krehbiel to load the bases.
Facing Graves, Edds once again ran the count full, and once again was unable to locate the strike zone, walking in the winning run. As the scoreboard lit up 9-8, jubilant Free State players rushed the field and mobbed each other in celebration near the outfield grass.
“Down late with no hits, it’s good knowing that we’re a team that can fight back,” Graves said.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Ben Graves celebrates after he’s walked to send home the go-ahead, walk-off run to win a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
In a perfect world, the Firebirds were hoping to have Shaw, the staff ace, available to toe the rubber moving forward. But that won’t be the case, as Shaw far exceeded the maximum pitch limit that’s counted toward availability for the upcoming game.
Hill opted to trot out Young as the starter, and then pulled him after two and one-third innings of work. Young only tossed 45 pitches, meaning he will be available for the semifinal matchup on Thursday.
Young was relieved by Graves, who threw 41 pitches over two and two-thirds innings of work. But facing a sizable late-inning deficit, Hill turned to Shaw. And at that point, Hill could no longer worry about the pitch count, giving him no choice but to ride with Shaw until the wheels fell off.
In all, Shaw delivered 83 pitches over four innings. He allowed four earned runs, striking out six while walking three.
The overarching strategy of starting Young and turning to Graves in relief was to preserve Shaw, which would have better positioned the Firebirds in the semifinals.
“No kid tells me that their goal is to win the first game of the state tournament,” Hill said. “Every kid tells me their goal is to win the state championship.
… “We felt like there was a calculated risk we needed to take. Now, it didn’t work out because Zane wound up exceeding his limit, and we were hoping to keep him under 45 (pitches) so we could throw him Thursday.
“You’ve got to do some things from time-to-time to give yourself the best opportunity to win the whole tournament, and that’s what we were trying to do.”
At the dish, Moore concluded a monster day 2 of 3 with four RBIs and two walks. Mahnke, who was a menace on the base paths, finished 2 of 3 with three runs scored, two walks, and a pair of stolen bases. Krehbiel, who came on to pinch hit, also proved instrumental to the comeback — reaching base in all three of his plate appearances.
“As leadoff, I try to do everything I can to get on first base, and I executed that pretty well,” Mahnke said. “The game plan was to just try to put pressure on them.”
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Ryker Mahnke hits the ball during a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
While the game seemed to be a thriller to most observers, it was also sloppy defensively. The teams combined for eight errors, with Free State committing six of those, all of the infield variety.
“Tomorrow at practice, all of us have to lock in on defense,” Shaw said.
Added Moore: “We’re going to get back to work tomorrow, and we’ll come ready to play.”
Hill called it the “worst game we’ve ever played at the state tournament” in 16 total appearances.
“Yet, in some ways, it was the best game we’ve played because of our resilience and character,” he said. “So, as disappointed as I am in the way we played the game — the way we competed, I can’t be more proud of.”
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State head coach Mike Hill laughs alongside Zane Shaw during extra innings of a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Zane Shaw let’s out a roar after closing out an half-inning late in his team’s state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Ben Graves spikes his helmet into the turf after his team clinches a comeback victory in a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s players dogpile on top of teammate Ben Graves after winning a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports
Free State’s Owen Lester does a backflip to celebrate his team winning a state quarterfinal baseball game on May 26 at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park.
