By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- The Hayden baseball team rescued its season with some seventh inning heroics Monday, plating four runs to pull off a dramatic 7-6 comeback over Rock Creek and advance to the semifinal round of the Class 4A state tournament.
Hayden baseball celebrates its 7-6 come-from-behind Class 4A state quarterfinal win Monday in Emporia. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Down to its final strike multiple times in the top of the seventh, trailing 6-3, Hayden just kept battling.
The Wildcats exploited two passed balls and a throwing error that could have ended the game to give themselves a chance.
Mason Becker drove in Everett Tourtillott from third to shave a run off the Rock Creek lead. Then, with two outs and runners at second and third, Caleb Menke drove a liner back through the middle to give Hayden an improbable lead, 7-6.
“My dad (assistant coach Shawn Menke) talked to me before I went up to bat and he was just like, ‘Listen, you’re gonna have to fight off curveballs. You’re gonna have to fight deep into the count. But once you get that fastball, you can’t miss it,' ” Menke said. “I fought off curveballs for what felt like forever until I finally got that fastball on a full count. And I just managed to put a good swing on it.”
Relief pitcher Tourtillott, who helped the Wildcats stay in it through the rocky middle innings, closed the seventh by stranding two runners on base to preserve the win.
Tourtillott entered the game in the fourth inning after a wild sequence that saw Rock Creek score three runs on errors to take a 4-3 lead. He struck out three Mustangs to help Hayden restore its hope.
“I got a great group of guys in that dugout that believe in me,” Tourtillott said. “We never doubted. I just went out there with nothing to lose. We don’t give up here. We’ve got tough practices, a good coach. We work on situations all the time. It was the right moment. We just don’t give up.”
Tourtillott struck out eight batters and allowed just one hit over four innings, but the hit was a big one. He gave up an RBI triple and then a wild pitch that let Rock Creek pad their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Trailing 6-3, the Wildcats appeared all but finished.
“Credit to the kids. They didn’t ever give up. They kept fighting,” said Hayden coach Bill Arnold. “We’ve got a great group of kids that are going to fight to the very end.”
“Everyone in that dugout loves each other. We don’t play for ourselves. We play for the team and we play for God,” Menke said of the Wildcats’ belief they could come back. “We knew that, in that last inning, we’d get down to our last strike and we couldn’t fold. And we didn’t fold.”
Errors were a huge part of the story Monday in Emporia. Tied 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning, Hayden took advantage of a Mustang throwing error to plate two runs. Rock Creek came back with three runs off two Hayden errors in the bottom of the frame. And when Hayden needed help in the bottom of the seventh, a Rock Creek throwing error gave the Wildcats life with two outs.
“I told the kids before we even started preparing for state, ‘You’ve just got to keep your nose to the grindstone and catch a break somewhere,’ ” Arnold said. “As long as you’re playing hard, and you’re staying within yourself, then good things are going to happen.”
Hayden baseball poses for a team picture after Monday's 7-6 Class 4A quarterfinal win over Rock Creek. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The Wildcats now head to Manhattan, where good things have happened for Hayden in the past.
Hayden will face Paola at Tointon Family Stadium at Kansas State on Thursday. The semifinal and final rounds were shifted to K-State from the University of Kansas’ Hoglund Stadium when the Jayhawks were announced as a host for regional play in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have fond memories from Manhattan, having won the Class 3A title there in 2024.
“It’s gonna be fun, man. I’m ready to just go out there and play some more baseball with these guys,” Tourtillott said. “We’re ready. We’ve been preparing for it.”
CLASS 4A STATE BASEBALL
HAYDEN 7, ROCK CREEK 6
Hayden (20-5) 010 200 4 -- 7 6 2
Rock Creek (23-5) 010 302 0 -- 6 4 2
Hanika, Tourtillott (4) and Deutsch. Wells, Lubbers (5) and Valburg. W -- Tourtillott. L -- Lubbers. 2B -- Hayden: Branson. 3B -- Rock Creek: Scott.
