By KYLE MANTHE
TopSports.news
With a trip to the Class 6A regional championship game on the line Wednesday at the Bettis Family Sports Complex, Washburn Rural’s baseball team combined a stellar pitching performance with surging bats in the middle innings to advance with an 8-0 win over Wichita Heights.
With the win, Rural earned a berth against Dodge City in the final, which was delayed due to inclement weather in the third inning and postponed until 4 p.m. Friday at Bettis.
Hunter Jones led the way on the mound for the Junior Blues in the semifinal game, striking out 13 Wichita Heights hitters while only giving up four hits and allowing a walk and no runs in six-plus innings.
“The curveball was working a lot today, they only had one hit I think all day off of the curveball, so I just wanted to attack that in the zone,” said Jones.
The senior right-hander threw six and a third scoreless innings before being relieved to manage his pitch count. Jones was replaced by fellow senior Alex Blum, who recorded allowed a single but recorded two straight strikeouts to finish the game.
Most of the game was played in a steady drizzle, but Jones had no problems from his perch on the mound.
“I am perfectly fine in anything, just give me the ball and I will throw it,” Jones said.
Washburn Rural senior Hunter Jones delivers a pitch in the Junior Blues' 8-0 6A regional win over Wichita Heights Wednesday. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/TSN]
Washburn Rural Coach Jay Mastin agreed.
“I don’t think it did (have any impact), and we have been able to get on to a little bit of turf to practice the last couple of days,” Mastin said.
The Junior Blues' bats were quiet the first two innings, with Rural being held scoreless, and Mastin credited Jones for holding the Falcons in check early on.
“We got off to a slow start offensively, and him throwing up those zeros early and continuing on was key to allowing our offense to have some time to get settled in,” said Mastin.
In the third Rural got on the board, with senior Brady Patterson, driving in senior Davan Brady, who tripled to begin the inning. Rural added another run to make it a 2-0 game through the third.
“Brady Patterson had a few nice hits today to start things off and Davan got a couple of doubles and swung the bat real well,” said Mastin.
Washburn Rural senior Hunter Vondemkamp (10) celebrates after scoring a run in Rural's 8-0 regional win over Wichita Heights. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/TSN]
Rural blew the game open in the fourth inning, scoring five runs. The Junior Blues got a two-run triple from senior Hunter Vondemkamp, who scored himself on a throwing error.
The Junior Blues added another run in the fifth inning to extend their lead to their final eight-run advantage.
The win added to Rural’s 10-game winning streak to finish off the regular season, with the last loss coming on April 24 to Olathe West.
The championship game got underway between the Junior Blues and Dodge City but was cut short after less than three complete innings due to rain.
CLASS 6A REGIONAL BASEBALL
Semifinal
WASHBURN RURAL 8, WICHITA HEIGHTS 0
Wichita Heights (6-15) 000 000 0 -- 0 5 3
Washburn Rural (16-5) 002 510 x -- 8 11 0
W – Jones. L – Kelly. 2B – Washburn Rural: Brady 2, Taggart. 3B -- Washburn Rural: Vondemkamp.
