By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
MANHATTAN -- Rossville faced the Monarchs of Thomas More Prep-Marian in the KSHSAA Class 2A-1A state baseball semifinal on Wednesday at Kansas State's Tointon Family Stadium, with the Bulldawgs dropping a 6-2 decision to Thomas More Prep-Marian.
The Monachs were able to pull away during the middle innings and advance to the 2-1A state championship game while Rossville will play for third place on Thursday.
Rossville had a quick start, with senior Jakoby McDonnell hitting the first pitch of the game back up the middle for a base hit. After stealing second, McDonnell scored on a base hit from fellow senior Canaan Mitchell.
TMP-Marian evened the score in the bottom of the first with a run-scoring groundout by junior Ty Schmeidler, which scored senior Carson Liles, who had a base hit and had advanced to third on a walk and wild pitch.
After a scoreless second inning by both teams, Rossville regained the lead on Mitchell’s second RBI of the contest, scoring senior Conner Bush to making the score 2-1.
Once again, the Monarchs responded in the bottom of the inning, with Schmeidler’s second RBI on a triple, high off the right-field wall.
The next batter, senior catcher Caden Dinkel, hit a two-run home run into the left-field bullpen, making the score 4-2.
In the bottom of the fourth TMP-Marian began the inning with a leadoff single by senior Connor Breit and back-to-back bunt singles by sophomore Nash Dreiling and senior Ian Nehls. With the bases loaded Liles had a RBI groundout to shortstop which scored Breit, making the score 5-2.
With Rossville unable to score in the top of the fifth inning, the Dawgs were able to stay within striking distance with outstanding defense in the bottom of the frame.
The Monarchs had back-to-back singles by Caden Dinkel and junior Logan Baalmann, which chased starting pitcher Cael Horgan from the contest.
Bush came in for Rossville and promptly hit the first batter he faced, loading the bases.
Bush was able to induce a foul out to sophomore first baseman Jordan Martinek, then McDonnell had an excellent diving catch in center field for the second out. Bush was able to close out the inning with a popout to freshman second baseman Cole Graves, keeping the score at 5-2.
Rossville was able to get two baserunners on in the top of the sixth, but was unable to score. TMP-Marian scored the final run of game in the bottom of the sixth on Dinkel’s third RBI of the game, accounting for the final score.
Rossville was able to once again get two runners on base in the top of the seventh, but could not score as TMP-Marian advanced to the state championship on Friday evening.
Rossville (24-5) will play in the third-place game on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. against Frankfort (24-4), which lost to St. Mary’s Colgan 4-3 in the other semifinal game on Wednesday.
CLASS 2A-1A STATE BASEBALL
Rossville (24–5) 101 000 0 -- 2 5 0
TMP-Marian (29-1) 103 101 x -- 6 9 1
Horgan, Bush (5) and Meyer. Liles and Dinkel. W -- Liles. L -- Horgan. 2B -- Rossville : Mitchell. 3B -- TMP-Marian: Schmeidler. HR -- TMP-Marian: Dinkel.
