BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
PITTSBURG — Larned's first two games in the AA/AAA American Legion state baseball tournament went down to the final pitch.
Larned made sure that didn't happen Friday while rolling past Republic County 12-2 in the third AA pool game. Larned (12-9) meets the Topeka Senators/Pittsburg winner in Saturday's 12:30 p.m. semifinals.
Larned (12-9) captured Legion state baseball titles in 1990, 2000, 2016 and 2019.
LARNED 12, REPUBLIC COUNTY 2 (G3) — Sparkplug Ian Orth drove home four runs and scored the game-ending run on an error to clinch a semifinal berth. Pitcher Owen Reece pitched five solid innings to earn the victory.
Mello Bryant, Dillan Smith, Gavin Alvarez and Owen Reece also drove home runs. Larned scored three runs in the first inning and two times in the second inning. A six-run fourth-inning featured five walks, two hit batters and an error.
"These guys have played great baseball for three games," said Larned coach Chad Erway. "It's reassuring to see what these guys have done. But we're pretty big underdogs against the AAA teams."
Larned will pitch Jack Stelter, Mello Bryant and Brady Hope Saturday.
MARYSVILLE 4, LARNED 3 (G2) — Larned was out away from clinching a semifinal berth when Marysville had five consecutive batters reach base in a 4-3 comeback victory.
"The only disappointing part was we would've been AA state champions," Erway said.
Larned starter Gavin Alvarez (1-4) threw six brilliant shutout innings. Alvarez was tagged for a tying two-run double by Tregan Graff that scored Zach Hefele and Ben Kirkland. Hefele doubled home Connor Halbert with two out in the seventh inning. Ayden Price completed Marysville's comeback with a single that scored Graff for a 4-3 lead. Halbert and Kirkland reached base on walks.
The Indians (11-9) led 3-0 after six innings. Carlos Ibarra scored a second-inning run when Mello Bryant was hit by a pitch. Bryant scored on Jack Stelter's fifth-inning double.
Ibarra scored on Carson Shaver's sixth-inning bases-loaded walk. Larned missed a golden opportunity to put the game away with the bases loaded and no out. Ian Orth was tagged out at home on a steal attempt when Mello Bryant struck out. The third out was recorded when Carson Shaver strayed out second base and was tagged out.
LARNED 2, SILVER LAKE 0 (G1) — Larned pitcher Dillan Smith was down to his final pitch. If Smith didn't retire Silver Lake's Conor Pruyser, Larned coach Chad Erway had to replace him.
Mason Schwartz and Jake Wegner singled in the seventh inning to push Smith's pitch count to 104 with the heat index hitting 109 degrees.
Fortunately, Smith retired Pruyser on a game-ending fly ball to leftfielder Carson Shaver that finished a thrilling 2-0 victory over Silver Lake Wednesday.
Smith (4-1) struck out four batters and worked flawlessly around six singles and four walks to strand 10 baserunners. Silver Lake finished 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
"Dillan Smith threw a gem, his best game I've seen," said Larned coach Chad Erway. "Dillan worked ahead in the count. He worked fastball/curveball, but his off-speed pitch set things up. Dillan had his circle-change working that got him flyouts and groundballs."
Smith and Highland Community College signee Pruyser each threw five shutout innings.
"Their pitcher threw good, hitting low 80s with a good curveball," Erway said. "That was a pretty good baseball game."
Larned broke free for a pair of sixth-inning runs. Eian Sanders singled and Carson Shaver reached base on a bunt single. Mello Bryant singled to load the bases. Shaver scored on a passed ball that eluded catcher Devin Dultmeier. Bryant scored on Dillan Smith's groundball that was misplayed by shortstop Dylan Roush for a 2-0 lead.
Smith stranded two first-inning baserunners when he retired Jake Wegner, Pruyser and Kaden Walker after Dylan Roush singled and Mason Schwartz walked. Smith retired Pruyser in the fifth and seventh innings with runners on first and second base.
In the AAA pool, Pittsburg routed the Hays Eagles 12-0 and the Topeka Senators edged Ottawa 6-3.
MARYSVILLE 10, REPUBLIC COUNTY 3 — Marysville's Ben Kirkland, Payton DeLuc and Caden Brinegar each drove home two runs to spark a 10-3 victory over Republic County. Marysville scored three runs in the first and fifth innings.
Republic Co. 000 02 — 2 4 3
Larned 320 61 — 12 10 2
Thuman, Brzon (4), Siemsen (5) and Lapo. Reece and Stelter. W—Reece. 2B—L—Orth. 3B—L—Orth.
Marysville 000 000 4 — 4 5 2
Larned 010 011 0 — 3 6 3
Graff, LeDuc (6), Price (7) and Haggard. Alvarez, Hope (7) and Stelter. W—Price. L—Alvarez, 1-4. 2B—L—Stelter 2; M—Haefele, Graff.
Larned 000 002 0 — 2 4 0
Silver Lake 000 000 0 — 0 6 1
Dillan Smith and Stelter. Pruyser and Dultmeier. W—D. Smith 4-1. L—Pruyser.
Marysville 300 230 2 — 10 8 4
Republic Co. 000 000 3 — 3 2 3
Brzon, Siemsen (2), Lewellyn (4), Svoboda (7) and Lapo. Brinegar, Halbert (7) and Haggard. W—Lewellyn. L—Brinegar. 2B—M—Brinegar, Kirkland, Price.
It’s possible to qualify from pool play with one win, but typically it requires two wins. Teams prefer to save pitching for Saturday’s semifinals. The two AA semifinal qualifiers will be heavy underdogs to the AAA qualifiers.
Teams play three pool games, but balancing tricky pitch count limits requires a game-by-game focus. Pitchers are limited to 105 pitches in one game and two possible appearances in three days.
“Pitch count changes the strategy of each game,” said Larned coach Chad Erway. “At times, there no sense for a batter to swing the bat like they used to. Now, you see batters taking pitches to run pitch counts up.”
Dillan Smith (3-1) and Gavin Alvarez (1-3) headline Larned’s pitchers. Others expected to contribute are Mello Bryant (1-2), Jack Stelter (1-1), Brady Hope (2-0) and Owen Reece.
Erway believes Silver Lake, Doniphan County and Marysville feature solid baseball programs.
“It always depends on who’s on the mound,” he said. “Those programs have traditionally good baseball programs. We’ll go with the best pitchers we have and go from there.”
Larned’s pitching has been competitive. The Indians feature fast baserunners and execute the bunting game to offset a lack of offense.
“At times, we’ve struggled hitting the baseball,” he said.
Larned, like most summer teams, has struggled to put a schedule together and keep enough players because of time commitments for training in other sports.
“The game has changed because of the circumstances of players,” he said. “It’s challenging to get any baseball practice time in.”
Larned’s Legion baseball team rolled past Goodland 15-5 to capture the Zone 4 championship. Larned took advantage of 14 walks and five hit batters. Winning pitcher Brady Hope (2-0) was keyed by a double play turned by second baseman Ian Orth. Jack Stelter delivered the game’s biggest hit with a bases-loaded fourth-inning triple.
LARNED ROSTER—1 Ian Orth 2B/CF; 3 Dillan Smith SS/P (3-1); 4 Mello Bryant CF/P (1-2); 7 Owen Reece P; 9 Jacob Grosfield; 13 Jack Stelter C/P (1-1); 20 Brady Hope 2B/SS/P (2-0); 21 Carlos Ibarra 1B/RF; 23 Carson Shaver; 30 Eian Sanders 1B; 35 Ty Smith 3B; 55 Gavin Alvarez 2B/SS/P (1-3)
AA-AAA STATE PITTSBURG
AA POOL—Marysville 3-0 (21-9); Larned 2-1 (17-6); Silver Lake 1-2 (16-10); Republic County 0-3 (4-34)
7-28—Larned 2, Silver Lake 0; Marysville 10, Republic County 3
7-29—Marysville 4, Larned 3; Silver Lake 13, Republic County 1
7-30—Marysville 7, Silver Lake 3; Larned 12, Republic County 2
SILVER LAKE state titles 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1992, 2005
LARNED state titles 1990, 2000, 2016, 2019
AAA POOL—Topeka Senators 2-0 (16-9); Pittsburg 1-1 (17-6); Ottawa 1-2 (13-26); Hays Eagles 1-2 (18-22)
7-28—Topeka Senators 6, Ottawa 3; Pittsburg 12, Hays Eagles 0
7-29—Senators 10, Hays 7; Ottawa 6, Pittsburg 5, 9 innings
7-30—Hays 11, Ottawa 0; Pittsburg 20-8 vs. Senators 23-11
HAYS state titles 1961, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 2012, 2013, 2015
PITTSBURG state titles 1970, 2008, 2009, 2014
OTTAWA state titles 1994, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017
A STATE SALINA
SEMIFINALS--Salina Hawks 40-4 vs. Pittsburg; McPherson (16) 21-8-1 vs. Overbrook
POOL A--7-28—Pittsburg Patriots 11, Salina Eagles 5; McPherson (16), 17, Doniphan County 7; 7-29—McPherson (16) 10, Salina Eagles 2; Pittsburg 14, Doniphan County 4; 7-30—McPherson (16) 6, Pittsburg 5; Doniphan County 7, Salina Eagles 5
POOL B--7-28—Overbrook Bombers 5, Junction City Blues 4; Salina Hawks 11, Burden Central 1; 7-29—Burden Central 4, Junction City 3; Salina Hawks 16, Overbrook 5; 7-30—Overbrook 9, Burden Central 4; Salina Hawks 7, Junction City 5
LEGION AAA ZONES (19 and under)
1 TOPEKA—Salina Falcons 9, Leavenworth 0; Salina Falcons 7, Topeka Senators 3; Topeka Senators 13, Leavenworth 3; Topeka Senators 7, Salina Falcons 1; 1ST—Topeka Senators 15, Salina Falcons 5
2 EMPORIA—Emporia 12, Ottawa 3; Pittsburg 13, Emporia 1; Ottawa 20, Emporia 2; 1ST—Pittsburg 5, Ottawa 2
3 GREAT BEND—Great Bend 12, Newton 11; Hays 3, Great Bend 1; Great Bend 2, Newton 1; 1ST—Hays 7, Great Bend 4
LEGION AA ZONES (19 under)
1 SABETHA—Doniphan County 10, Seneca 1; Marysville 6, Hiawatha 5; Marysville 4, Corning 0; Doniphan Co. 6, Sabetha 2; Corning 7, Seneca 6; Hiawatha 4, Sabetha 2; Corning 7, Hiawatha 3; Marysville 6, Doniphan County 1; Doniphan Co. 14, Corning 11; 1ST—Marysville 24, Doniphan County 21
2 IOLA—Iola def. Wamego; Silver Lake 3, Iola 0; Iola 8, Wamego 0; Iola 8, Silver Lake 3; 1ST—Silver Lake 7, Iola 5
3 BELOIT—Clifton 5, Norton 3; Republic County 7, Smith Center 1; Beloit 16, Clifton 12; Smith Center 18, Norton 3; Republic County 7, Beloit 5; Smith Center 13, Clifton 10; Beloit 11, Smith Center 10; 1ST—Republic County 8, Beloit 6
4 HOISINGTON—Larned 11, Otis-Bison 1; G2—Goodland 7, Ellinwood 3; Larned 4, Goodland 3; Otis-Bison 18, Ellinwood 9; Goodland def. Otis-Bison; Goodland 4, Larned 2; 1ST—Larned 15, Goodland 5
LEGION A ZONES (17 under)
CHANUTE—Pittsburg 14, Ottawa 4; Overbrook def. Garnett; Pittsburg 4, Iola 3; Overbrook def. Chanute; Iola 14, Garnett 0; Chanute 8, Ottawa 3; 1ST—Pittsburg def. Overbrook (SQ); Iola 3, Chanute 1; Overbrook 5, Iola 4 (SQ)
CLAY CENTER—Clay Center 10, Hays (17) 2; Salina Eagles 6, Clay Center 4; Junction City 12, McPherson (15) 9; McPherson 6, Hays (17) 1; Junction City 10, Salina Eagles 0; McPherson 7, Clay Center 2; Salina Eagles 8, McPherson 2; 1ST—Junction City 14, Salina Eagles 3 (SQ)
MCPHERSON—Burden Central def. Winfield; McPherson (16) 15, Hays (15) 0; 1ST—McPherson 6, Central Burden 0 (SQ); Hays (15) def. Winfield; Burden Central 7, Hays (15) 0 (SQ)
TOPEKA—Topeka Senators 8, Marysville 4; Hiawatha def. Seneca; Salina Hawks 7, Hiawatha 0; Doniphan County 5, Senators 1; 1ST—Salina Hawks 16, Doniphan County 0 (SQ); Senators 12, Seneca 1; Marysville def. Hiawatha; Senators 30, Marysville 10; Doniphan County 8, Senators 6 (SQ)
