KSHSAA Covered
MANHATTAN – Columbus’ Landin Midgett left Tointon Family Stadium with a memento from Wednesday’s Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches All-Star Game.
Midgett delivered the only home run of the contest, breaking a 4-all tie in the top of the fifth with a two-run shot to left field that helped send the Purple team to an 8-4 win over the Gray squad.
The home-run ball was retrieved and given to Midgett.
“I had a long at-bat – six pitches, fouled some off,” Midgett said. “I thought he was bringing a breaking ball and he just hung it down the middle. I just put a good swing on it.”
Midgett, a standout catcher, hit three home runs this past season for the Titans, who finished runner-up in 3A for the second straight year.
“Every one of them, I felt it off the bat like that one,” said Midgett, who has also been tabbed to play in the Kansas Shrine Bowl next month in Hays. “It was cool to do it here at the All-Star game with all the best players.”
Great Bend Panther Tyler Stuhlsatz played for the Gray squad. Stuhlsatz (3-2, 4.50 ERA) delivered a .352 average (30-85) with 23 runs scored as the Panthers’ leadoff batter. Stuhlsatz earned the victory against 4A state champion McPherson. Great Bend (13-10, 4-4 WAC) upset WAC champion Hays High 3-1 and beat Andover High 4-3 to qualify for the 5A state baseball tournament. State champion Wichita Carroll beat the Panthers 6-0 at the 5A state tournament.
Columbus’ Landin Midgett delivered a 2-run home run that sparked the Purple team to an 8-4 win over the Gray squad. The Titans, who finished runner-up in 3A for the second straight year.
The Purple scored the game’s last five runs to pull away, holding the Gray scoreless over the last six innings as each pitcher worked one inning.
The Purple scored the game’s last five runs to pull away, holding the Gray scoreless over the last six innings as each pitcher worked one inning apiece.
“We had the best arms from around the state and they were filling it up,” Midgett said. “Everybody had a breaking ball, everybody had a changeup. Everybody had everything. It was just good to catch them.”
“Getting a whole team made up of guys that can play at the next level is pretty fun,” said Eisenhower’s Tyner Horn, a hard-throwing Wichita State signee who closed out the game in the ninth. “You don’t get to see that every day.”
Olathe North’s Jackson Evans got the Purple started with a two-run single after a double from Olathe East’s Michael Novak. The Gray knotted it up at 2 in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI hit from Manhattan’s Kyler Horsman and a run-scoring error.
The Purple regained the lead in the third when Buhler’s Matthew Eddy legged out a single to bring in a run, but the Gray answered again with two runs. Trinity’s Easton Norris stole second and third base then slid home on a throwing error from the catcher, and Manhattan’s Ian Luce gave the Gray its only lead of the game with an RBI single.
Evans then knotted up the game in the fourth with a run-scoring triple.
Midgett was hit by a pitch in his other two appearances. A run scored in sixth after he was hit with the bases loaded to make it 7-4. Little River's Braden Young brought in the last run with a sac fly in the ninth.
Grant Stephens, also a Little River product, had the biggest defensive highlight of the game, making a diving catch in right field on a ball hit by Collegiate’s Brady Hunt to help strand two Gray runners in the seventh.
Horn capped things off in impressive fashion by striking out the side in the ninth.
“It was definitely toasty, but it was worth it,” Horn said. “When they were expecting the fastball, I’d throw a curveball and they were off balance. Everything was working pretty well.”
Evans went 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk and three runs driven in.
PURPLE ROSTER
Parrish Beagle, Maur Hill; Andrew Casey, Shawnee Mission West; Bo Shinkle, Blue Valley Southwest; Braden Young, Little River; Tyner Horn, Eisenhower; Harry Tryban, Olathe East; Jackson Evans, Olathe North; Jaret Myers, McPherson; Michael Novak, Olathe East; Noland Freund, Kingman; Dalton Mantz, Little River; Shane Pucket, Colby; Landin Midgett, Columbus; Grant Stephens, Little River; T.J. Coats, Blue Valley Southwest; Alex Coester, Girard; Matthew Eddy, Buhler; Logan Wake, Tonganoxie; Hunter Alvord, McPherson; Josiah Claussen, Remington; Zac Fisher, Onaga; Ben Raschke, KC-Christian; Colby Sinkins, Onaga; Jaytin Gumm, McPherson; Seth Stover, Columbus; Brandon Stone, Shawnee Mission West; Bryson Vawter, Seaman.
GRAY ROSTER
Brett Black, Collegiate; Ethan Burgess, Rock Creek; Dylan Cervantez, Valley Falls; Jackson Cross, Russell; Ashton Rockey, Hiawatha, Cooper Tabor, Andover Central; Brady Hunt, Collegiate; Mark Hoffman, Clay Center; Trevor Church, Crest; Brant Mikulecky, Inman; Gunner Ball, Perry Lecompton; Donovan Johnson, Spring Hill; Hayden Malaise, Collegiate; Easton Norris, Trinity; Ian Luce, Manhattan; Ashton Larson, Aquinas; Austin Rich, Elkhart; Kale Murdock, Paola; Keenan Schartz, Manhattan; Cesar Gomez, Elkhart; Kyler Horsman, Manhattan; Jack Kreisman, Blue Valley Northwest; Kage Ralstin, Elkhart; Abe Huaracha, St. Marys; Tyler Stuhlsatz, Great Bend; Austin Young, Blue Valley West; Barrett Donaldson, Blue Valley West; Reed Haneburg, Carroll.
