SALINA, Kan. – The McPherson High School Baseball team closed out their 2025 season at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina Friday, May 30 in the 4A Baseball State Tournament. The Bullpups fell to Rock Creek 3-1 in an extra-inning semifinal matchup but blew out Paola 11-4 to take 3rd Place in the state.
The semifinal matchup between McPherson and Rock Creek was one of the more attentive matchups around the state of Kansas as it featured the last three 4A State Baseball Champions (McPherson in ’22 & ’23, Rock Creek in ’24). The game in Salina featured a packed crowd at ‘The Dean’ and also saw a pitchers’ duel.
McPherson went with senior Carter Allen to start and Rock Creek went with Ryker Zoeller. The game was scoreless through six full innings as both teams struggled to get guys on base against star pitching. McPherson finally broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the 6th as Brody Seidl crossed the plate from second base on a Brock Richardson bunt-single. The run was Seidl’s 42nd of the season, which broke another school record.
Rock Creek entered the top of the 7th looking to at least tie the game after trailing 1-0. Donovan Debita got on base with a one-out walk, who eventually reached third after a throwing error on a stolen base attempt. With still one out, the Mustangs hit a ground ball to Richardson at the shortstop position, who threw home to try to get Debita out, but he was ruled to cross the plate under the catcher’s tag to tie the game. Rock Creek would hold McPherson in the bottom of the 7th to send the game to extra innings.
Rock Creek used the momentum from the 7th inning to score two runs thanks to two hits in the first extra frame. McPherson struck out twice in the bottom of the 8th inning as they were unable to mount the comeback, falling 3-1 in the State Semifinals. Rock Creek punched their ticket back to the state championship game to try to repeat as champions, but Fort Scott defeated the Mustangs 6-4 to win the 4A State Title.
McPherson pulled all of their emotions together to have to play nearly 25 minutes later for 3rd Place vs. Paola. Logan Beede started on the mound after throwing 1.1 relief innings in the semifinal. After a strong first inning by Beede, Paola put up two runs in the 2nd inning after two hits, a hit-by-pitch, and a walk. However, McPherson finally got their stride on offense right after, putting six runs on the board in the 2nd inning.
The Bullpups did not let off of the gas pedal. They put three more runs on the board in the 3rd inning, leading 9-2 in the early parts of the game. Paola brought themselves back in with two runs in the 4th, but McPherson got the runs back in the 4th and 5th innings, winning the game 11-4. McPherson had seven hits, were hit by three pitches, and drew seven walks. Carter Allen led the offense going 2-3 with 4 RBI’s. Carter Bengtson also went 2-3 on the contest.
Cade Strathman entered the game on the mound in the 4th with two outs and ended up retiring all 10 batters he faced, striking out five of those batters. Beede got the win on his final day as a Bullpup, ending his senior season going 6-2.
McPherson’s 2025 season ends with them finishing in 3rd Place with a 27-4 overall record. It’s McPherson’s first 3rd Place finish in school history. Despite leaving without a title, it is one of the more successful seasons in McPherson High School history. The team broke multiple school records and won more games than any MHS baseball team ever.
Following Friday’s games, the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League released their All-League honorees. Ten players and Head Coach Heath Gerstner earned Division 3 All-League honors:
- Heath Gerstner – Co-Coach of the Year
- Ian Razak (Sr.) – 1st Team Pitcher, 1st Team First Baseman, Co-MVP
- Carter Bengtson (So.) – 1st Team Second Baseman
- Cade Strathman (Jr.) – 1st Team Third Baseman, Honorable Mention Pitcher
- Carter Allen (Sr.) – 1st Team Catcher, 2nd Team Pitcher
- Brody Seidl (Sr.) – 1st Team Outfield
- Brock Richardson (Sr.) – 1st Team Shortstop
- Isaac Barnett (Sr.) – 2nd Team Outfield
- Logan Beede (Sr.) – 2nd Team Pitcher
- Brenden Doile (Sr.) – 2nd Team Utility
- Cowen Huggard (Jr.) – Honorable Mention DH
All seven seniors for McPherson are going to play baseball at the college level:
- #0 Brody Seidl – Cloud County Community College
- #5 Brenden Doile – Western Nebraska Community College
- #17 Brock Richardson – Butler Community College
- #25 Isaac Barnett – Sterling College
- #29 Ian Razak – Cloud County Community College
- #30 Carter Allen – Pratt Community College
- #34 Logan Beede – Neosho County Community College
McPherson also broke multiple team and individual season records in 2025:
Team Offense:
- Most Wins: 27 (Previous: 23 in 2022)
- Most Runs: 284 (Previous: 260 in 2023)
- Most Hits: 264 (Previous: 255 in 2023)
- Most Runs Batted In: 222 (Previous: 197 in 2022)
- Most Walks: 146 (Previous: 132 in 2022)
- Most Hits-By-Pitch: 57 (Previous: 51 in 2024)
- Most Stolen Bases: 139 (Previous: 121 in 2022)
Team Defense:
- Most Putouts: 573 (Previous: 552 in 2024)
- Most Innings Pitched: 191.0 (Previous: 169.2 in 1994 & 2015)
- Most Pitching Strikeouts: 199 (Previous: 193 in 2024)
- Tied – Fewest Runs Allowed per Game: 2.4 (Previous: 2.4 in 2022)
Individual:
- Ian Razak:
- Lowest Earned Run Average: 0.11 (Previous: 0.67 by Ty Reese in 2003)
- Carter Allen would have also broken this record, finishing with a 0.59 ERA.
- Fewest Runs Allowed: 8 (Previous: 13 by Josh Piper in 2008)
- Tied – Most Wins: 10 (Previous: 10 by Jaret Myers in 2022)
- Lowest Earned Run Average: 0.11 (Previous: 0.67 by Ty Reese in 2003)
- Brody Seidl:
- Most Stolen Bases: 48 (Previous: 31 by Hunter Alvord in 2023)
- Tied State Record 4/17 vs. Mulvane for most stolen bases in a single game (6).
- Most Runs: 44 (Previous: 41 by Hunter Alvord in 2023)
- Most At-Bats: 94 (Previous: 88 by Cody Starkel in 2015)
- Most Stolen Bases: 48 (Previous: 31 by Hunter Alvord in 2023)
- Isaac Barnett:
- Most Times Hit by Pitch: 21 (Previous: 13 by Seth Davenport in 2009)
