By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Carson Rosen turned in arguably the best performance of his standout pitching career for Washburn Rural Tuesday at the Bettis Family Sports Complex, throwing a 3-hitter with 13 strikeouts as the Junior Blues advanced to the Class 6A state tournament with a 5-0 shutout over Campus.
But Rosen's performance was not without worry ... a lot of worry.
Washburn Rural dogpiles Junior Blues pitcher Carson Rosen (bottom left) after Rural closed out Tuesday's 5-0 win over Campus, earning a return trip to the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"I felt really good coming into yesterday and and then yesterday at practice while I was putting away a bucket I stepped on a rake and it came up and smashed my middle finger on my right (pitching) hand,'' Rosen said. "I was pretty upset yesterday. It was the worst timing possible, definitely.
"I've been dealing with some arm issues this year and I finally felt like I was getting healthy completely and then right before regionals it happened, but I battled through it and we got the W. It was awesome.''
Rosen said his finger didn't really bother him when he was on the mound.
"Honestly, adrenalin makes it so you don't feel very much,'' Rosen said. "Tomorrow or tonight I might feel it a little bit but it felt good in the game.''
Washburn Rural scored single runs in the first and third against the Colts, added a pair of big insurance runs in the fifth on Rosen's two-run single and a final run in the sixth and Rosen did the rest, striking out six Campus batters over the final three innings.
"He was pretty locked in,'' Washburn Rural coach Jay Mastin said. "He was in control and we got the lead early and capitalized on some stuff ofensively, enough to go into the seventh with a 5-0 lead and Rosen throwing like he was.''
Washburn Rural senior Robby Bolin tracks down a fly ball in Tuesday's Class 6A regional tournament at the Bettis Family Sports Complex. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior center fielder Robby Bolin went 3 for 4 in the championship game with a pair of RBI.
"I think as a team we were pretty confident coming into this,'' Bolin said. "With the way the bracket is set up we thought we had a pretty good shot off the start and our team's been getting progressively better each day and we've been working on that as our goal, just to grow each day as a team and we just got red hot at the right time and it played out.''
Washburn Rural advanced to the championship game with an 11-1 semifinal win over Wichita North while Campus reached the final with a hard-earned 6-4 win over Garden City.
Senior Brock Howard picked up the semifinal pitching win for Washburn Rural with five solid innings of work before junior Zach Sharshel came on in the top of the sixth.
Rural scored twice in the bottom of the second and added runs in the third and fourth before ending the game with a seven-run sixth.
The 6A state tournament is scheduled for May 26-27 at Fort Scott.
Washburn Rural also advanced to state last season, dropping a 4-1 first-round decision to 6A runner-up Gardner-Edgerton.
Class 6A regional baseball
Championship
WASHBURN RURAL 5, CAMPUS 0
Campus 000 000 0 -- 0 3 4
Washburn Rural 101 021 x -- 5 8 1
W -- Rosen. L -- Caudillo.
