By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
WICHITA -- Just like the Class 6A games on Thursday, the semifinal baseball contests in 5A were also postponed due to the weather.
Shawnee Heights celebrates the end of an inning in Friday's 6-3 Class 5A semifinal win over St. James Academy. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela]
A mostly sunny afternoon at Eck Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University provided the backdrop for the second 5A semifinal with a trip to the state championship game on the line between St. James Academy and Shawnee Heights.
Gatting timely hitting and taking advantage of Thunder mistakes, Shawnee Heights posted a 6-3 win to advance to the state championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday against St. Thomas Aquinas.
T-Bird sophomore pitcher Gabe Escobar sat down the Thunder in order in the first inning, but his counterpart, junior Cory Kirchner, gave up one run in the bottom of the first after a walk, passed ball, then a RBI single by senior Jackson Hayes, which scored junior Nowlan Hurla.
Sophomore Gabe Escobar turned in a solid pitching performance in Shawnee Heights' 6-3 Class 5A semifinal win over St. James Academy. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/TSN]
Escobar set down St. James again in the second inning and allowed his first baserunner on a hit by pitch to the first batter of the third inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Shawnee Heights scored two runs via an error and a RBI single by senior Cambren Floberg.
Escobar allowed his first two hits of the game in the fourth, and on the second single, St. James tried to score the runner from second to cut the lead to 3-1, but Heights senior center-fielder Cayden Lindsay threw a strike to home plate, cutting down the runner to end the inning with the game still 3-0.
“It felt amazing,'' Lindsay said. "I knew he was going to run, I attacked it hard and it’s my favorite thing to do in a game.”
Cayden Lindsay races around the bases in Friday's 6-3 Shawnee Heights Class 5A state quarterfinal win over St. James Academy. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/TSN]
The T-Birds immediately answered with three insurance runs, two coming off the bat of Lindsay, who hit a bases-clearing triple.
“We needed some insurance and I had a perfect hit,” Lindsay said.
Hayes followed with a double, scoring Lindsay to extend the lead to 6-0.
St. James was able to push across its first two runs in the top of the fifth thanks to a two-run double by junior Dalton Ashley to cut the lead to 6-2.
After a scoreless sixth inning by both teams, St. James was able close out the scoring, getting a single run in the top of the seventh, making the final score 6-3.
“It’s been a long time coming for our program,'' Heights coach Jason Brown said. "We set goals at the beginning of the season -- goal No. 1 win our league, goal No. 2 win our regional, goal No. 3 win the state quarterfinal and goal No. 4, that’s tomorrow.
“I just put them out there, they’re such a great group of kids who work hard. They come every day ready to go to work and I’m so proud of them.”
As the T-Birds prepare for the state title game, Brown shared his thoughts on the matchup.
“It will be a good matchup,'' he said. "We’re lucky because our pitcher was our No. 1 last year. I think it’s going to be a great game.”
Shawnee Heights (21-9) will play St. Thomas Aquinas (22-8), which defeated Great Bend, 4-0, in Friday's other semifinal. The state championship game will take place Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 6, ST. JAMES ACADEMY
St. James (19-11) 000 020 1 -- 3 6 2
Shawnee Heights (21-9) 102 300 x -- 6 8 0
Kirchner, Adams (4), Wren (5) and McDermott. Escobar, Lilly (7) and Purvis. W -- Escobar. L -- Kirchner. 2B -- St. James: Ashley. Shawnee Heights: Hayes. 3B -- Shawnee Heights: Lindsay.
