Bullpup Baseball Suffers First Loss at Mulvane, Earns Turnaround Victory in Game Two

MULVANE, Kan. – The McPherson High School Varsity Baseball team traveled to face one of the best teams in 4A, the Mulvane High School Wildcats, in an Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Division Three (AVCTL Div. 3) doubleheader on a sunny, hot, and windy afternoon Thursday, April 17. The McPherson Bullpups suffered their first loss in game one 2-0, but turned it around in game two with a 10-4 victory.

GAME ONE: L 2-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
McPherson:	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
Mulvane:	0	0	1	0	0	1	x	2	3	1

The doubleheader started in the strongest daylight time, with temperatures at the first pitch reaching nearly 90 degrees with 20-30 mph winds blowing towards left field.

Game one saw a pitcher’s duel between McPherson’s Logan Beede and Mulvane’s Parker Clubb, who is committed to play NCAA DI baseball at Louisville. Clubb threw for six full innings, striking out 12 batters while allowing just three hits, two walks, and two hits-by-pitch. The Junior starting pitcher reached the 105-pitch cap after one at-bat in the 7th, which resulted in a hit-by-pitch and put the potential tying run for McPherson at the plate. Brody Clasen came in for the save and got the final three outs, all of which via a fielder’s choice, handing McPherson their first loss of the season. The final out was the wildest, as a hard-hit ball by Brody Seidl looked as though it would go into center field, but it hit off of Clasen’s glove and deflected right to the second-baseman who threw it to the shortstop to end the game, resulting in a 1-4-6 FC on the scorecard.

Beede threw for all six innings with efficiency, allowing three hits and striking out five in just 85 pitches. Two runs came across for the Wildcats, but only one of them were earned to Beede due to three defensive errors by the Bullpups. The Bullpup offense had three hits and drew only two walks against Mulvane’s pitching staff.

Pitching: L. Beede (L, 2-1) – 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP

GAME TWO: W 10-4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
McPherson:	2	0	3	1	0	3	1	10	7	3
Mulvane:	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	4	3

As the wind speeds rose to up to 40 mph, game two started off with another Mulvane star junior pitcher Grey Sanders, who entered the contest as the 4A leader in strikeouts, according to Amyosport. However, Sanders struggled out of the gate as McPherson struck first in the first inning with two runs. Sanders was worked around by the Bullpups, throwing 95 pitches in 3.1 innings. However, Sanders did throw seven strikeouts in the game to put his season total up to 55 K’s.

The Bullpups did strike out 14 times in game two, but they reached on seven hits, a HBP, 11 walks, and three errors. Strong baserunning after getting on base helped give the Bullpups their 10 runs in the game, as the Bullpups finished the game with 11 stolen bases. Six of the 11 stolen bags were by Brody Seidl, putting his season total up to 27 and reaching him closer to Hunter Alvord’s single-season stolen base school record.

Ian Razak threw six productive innings, allowing four runs on four hits, but only one run was earned. Razak drew four walks, but he struck out eight batters. Cowen Huggard slammed the door in the 7th inning, striking out three batters and walking one to turn it around for the Bullpups.

Pitching: I. Razak (W, 5-0) – 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 8 K, 4 BB | C. Huggard – 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K, 1 BB

The Bullpups are now 13-1 on the season, but fall to 7-1 in AVCTL Div. 3 play. McPherson is now 2nd in the AVCTL Div. 3 standings behind Buhler, who swept Augusta Thursday to move to 6-0 in divisional play.

McPherson will have two quads at home next week at the Grant Sports Complex, starting with their first of the season Tuesday, April 22. They will start Tuesday’s quad with a rematch of last season’s Regional Final against Rose Hill. Afterwards, they will play either Emporia or Great Bend, who both are 5A teams and are ranked in the top 10 in their classification by the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches (KABC).