4A baseball: Trinity shut out by St. James
- 4A baseball: St. James routs Concordia; Mulvane takes fourth
- 5A baseball: Carroll survives late-inning test for title
- Saturday’s state championship scoreboard
- 3A baseball: Unbeaten Humboldt eliminates Independent
- 5A baseball: Carroll, Goddard advance to semifinals
- 6A baseball: Wichita-area teams shut out of semis
SALINA It didn’t necessarily hit the Trinity Academy baseball team all at once.
But, at some point, the Knights looked up and realized that Friday’s Class 4A tournament opener against defending champion St. James Academy had gotten out of control.
“(St. James) played a great game ” Trinity coach Andy Frieze said. “They got a little bit of a lead early and that was all they needed because their pitcher did such a good job of controlling the game.”
The Thunder rolled to a 9-0 victory over Trinity behind a one-hit outing by starting pitcher Matt Eckelman, who also struck out seven in four innings of work. St. James will play Mulvane in one of today’s semifinals. Ottawa takes on Concordia in the other semifinal.
“I felt like I was hitting all of my spots,” Eckelman said. “I made one mistake, and that’s how they got their hit.”
Eckelman (6-foot-4, 235 pounds), has already signed to play for Saint Louis University, but his 90 mph fastball and his size might be too enticing for a Major League Baseball team to pass up in the June draft.
“I wouldn’t want to go out there and face (Eckelman) … I can’t imagine being a high-school kid,” St. James coach Brian Bucklin said. “We’ve been riding him all year and we’re not going to stop now. You put him out there and he just makes things happen.”
St. James grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning. After David Maddock opened with a single and moved to second on a Trinity error, pinch runner Nick Arnold stole third then came home on a wild pitch. Ryan McCourt scored the Thunder’s second run by stealing home after a strikeout and throw to first.
St. James added another run in the third inning when Jake Wodtke scored on a fielder’s choice to make the score 3-0. The Knights chased Trinity starter Andrew Newlin in the top of the fourth after a two-run triple by the Thunder’s Otto Kaifes.
Mulvane 15, Pittsburg 0 – Mulvane’s Jarrett Price went 4 for 4 with three RBIs as the Wildcats exploded for 12 runs in the third inning on the way to a mercy-rule victory over Pittsburg.
Concordia 3, Nickerson 2 – Wichita State signee Garrett Brummett picked up the win for top-seeded Concordia, pitching seven innings, giving up four hits and striking out 13.
Concordia 3, Nickerson 2
| Nickerson | 000 | 100 | 1 | — | 2 4 3 |
| Concordia | 000 | 012 | x | — | 3 2 4 |
W — Brummett. L — Crandall.
Ottawa 7, Jefferson West 4
| Ottawa | 101 | 030 | 2 | — | 7 13 1 |
| Jeff West | 200 | 200 | 0 | — | 4 6 3 |
W — Goedert. L — Roberts. HR — Goedert (6).
St. James 9, Trinity 0
| St. James | 021 | 410 | 1 | — | 9 8 2 |
| Trinity | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 1 5 |
W — Eckelman. L — Newlin.
Mulvane 15, Pittsburg 0
| Pittsburg | 000 | — | 0 0 7 |
| Mulvane | 12(12) | — | 15 15 0 |
W — Dempsey. L — Bennett.