By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Longtime Shawnee Heights baseball coach Ryan Schmidt will end his prep coaching career this week in a very familiar place -- the Class 5A state tournament at Wichita State's Eck Stadium.
"We know the directions down there, we've got those memorized, but what a gift to finish up in Wichita,'' said Schmidt, who is retiring after 25 years as the T-Birds' head coach. "That's really special to me.''
Ryan Schmidt will end his 25-year run as Shawnee Heights' baseball coach in Thursday and Friday's Class 5A state tournament at Wichita. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Schmidt has coached the T-Birds to a pair of Class 5A state championships as Heights' head coach while also having a hand in two other state titles as an assistant under Craig Cox.
Shawnee Heights will enter Schmidt's final state tournaent as the No. 5 seed at 13-11 and the T-Birds will open their state bid at 1:15 p.m. Thursday against No. 4 seed Spring Hill (17-8).
The T-Birds have gone through an up and down 2024 campaign, but seem to be peaking at the right time, with No. 9 regional seed Heights punching its ticket to state with a 3-0 regional win over No. 1 seed De Soto on the Wildcats' home field.
"We started off and we'd win one and lose one, win two, lose two and just kind of bounced back and forth,'' Schmidt said in assessing the season. "We were trying to find our personality as a team and figure out how to come together.
"As the season went on and we kept going back and forth, instead of being frustrated we kind of went with the mentality of, 'Hey, we've got to win two games and then we've got to win three.' You want to do a five-game winning streak, let's make it at the end and we've got the first two out of the way.''
Shawnee Heights lost standout senior pitcher Carter Ulrich to an injury but have used several different pitchers to help fill that void.
"That threw a wrench into things a little bit, so we really had to figure out our arm situation,'' Schmidt said.
The T-Birds' star junior catcher, Oklahoma State commit Deacon Pomeroy, has also turned in an outstanding season on the mound while junior Braeden Johnston and senior Ben Schaub have also been solid hurlers, with Schaub coming up huge in the regional tournament.
"He got us a save and a win in regionals,'' Schmidt said.
With a win Thursday Shawnee Heights will advance to an 11 a.m. semifinal on Friday to face the winner of the first-round game between No. 1 seed Bishop Carroll (22-5) and No. 8 Salina Central (9-18).
On the other side of the bracket No. 2 seed Pittsburg (19-6) will face No. 7 Salina South (15-13) and No. 3 seed St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) will face No. 6 Eisenhower (14-12).
The 5A state championship game is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Friday, following the 3:30 third-place game.
Centennial League co-player of the year Cooper Grace (18) leads Hayden into Thursday's Class 3A state tournament. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden the No. 7 seed in Class 3A state field
Bill Arnold's Hayden Wildcats showed their potential with their run to the title in the recent Santa Fe Trail Class 3A regional.
Now the Wildcats will be looking to ride that momemtum to a strong performance in Thursday and Friday's state tournament at Kansas State's Tointon Family Stadium.
Hayden (15-12) is the No. 7 seed and will open its state bid with a 3:30 p.m. game Thursday against No. 2 Hesston (20-4).
"They've been a great group to work with, honestly,'' Arnold said. "They've had great attitudes in practice and they come to get better every day.''
On paper the Wildcats are a long shot entering the state event, but Arnold said that if Hayden plays its best it is capable of surprising some people.
"I told them before regionals ever started, 'You guys have the potential to go out and win state, and at the same time, you've got the potenial to lose the first round of regionals,' '' Arnold said. "When they're locked in and they play loose, they're good.''
Hayden junior Cooper Grace, the Centennial League co-player of the year, is regarded as one of the state's top pitchers, but the key to a strong showing at state, particularly with the 105 pitch count in place, is pitching depth.
"We've got four or five different guys who have thrown all year long and as much as you want to complain about the pitch count and stuff the kids understand that it takes a whole tribe to get through a tournament,'' Arnold said. "Easton Blosser picked up two wins at regionals and that's a kid that didn't get a ton of innings this season but he has progressively gotten better and he's earned his time out there on the mound.
"We've got all the confidence in the world with Coop out there and the guys have played solid around him and Coop has turned into a really good leader for us this year.''
Grace is 7-2 on the mound with a 2.18 earned run average while striking out 111 batters and is also hitting a team-high .461 with 11 doubles and all three of the Wildcats' home runs.
Blosser, a senior, is 4-3 as a pitcher with a 4.58 ERA.
Sophomore Aiden Roberts and freshman Mason Becker are both hitting .333 while sophomore Kade Mitchell is batting .304 and senior Evan Lenherr .303.
With a win Thursday the Wildcats will advance to a 1:15 p.m. semifinal on Friday to take on the winner of the first-round game between No. 3 seed Sabetha (19-5) and No. 6 Central Plains (15-10).
On the other side of the bracket No. 1 seed Trinity Academy (20-4) will face No. 8 Marysville (10-13) and No. 4 Burlington (19-6) will face No. 5 Frontenac (17-8).
The 3A state championship game is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Friday, following the 3:30 third-place game.
Topeka High senior pitcher Nate Plankinton will lead the Trojans into their second straight Class 6A state tournament appearance. [File photo/TSN]
Veteran Trojans looking to make noise in second straight 6A appearance
A year ago Topeka High was the unquestioned newby in the Class 6A state tournament field after ending school's seven-decade state drought.
But it's a veteran Topeka High team, led by its six-member senior class, that will take the field for Thursday's 1:15 first-round game at the University of Kansas' Hoglund Stadium.
The Trojans are the No. 4 state seed at 17-4 and will face No. 5 Free State (21-6).
Topeka High is led by standout senior Nate Plankinton, the co-player of the year in the Centennial League, while upperclassmen Matt Genrich, Lee Gonzales, Isaiah Kincade, Hank Stamper, Elijah Elliott and Zen Woods have also played a big role in the Trojans' breakout success the past couple of seasons.
"I'm so proud of that class,'' High coach Cody Miller said. "All one through six of them are a great bunch of men and a great group to coach.''
The Trojans rallied from a 6-0 deficit to take a 9-6 win over Wichita East in their regional semifinal before taking a 2-1 win over Derby in the regional final.
Now Miller is hopeful that the Trojans' state experience from last season will pay dividends this week.
"Last year you get there and you're kind of in awe of playing at KU, and you're at state and you've never been there before,'' Miller said. "Now we've been there before and this group knows what to expect and I think that will really help us.''
Plankinton agreed.
"It helps a lot,'' he said. "We know what to expect and we know what to do. We're going to get a lot further this time through. I love my group of guys and I know we've got this.''
The High-Free State winner will advance to an 11 a.m. semifinal on Friday to face the first-round winner between No. 1 seed Olathe West (27-1) and No. 8 Olathe South (13-13).
On the other side of the bracket No. 2 Wichita Heights (22-5) will face No. 7 Shawnee Mission East (19-9) in the opening round and No. 3 Blue Valley West (22-5) will take on No. 6 Maize (21-7).
The 6A state championship game is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Friday, following the 3:30 third-place game.
