McPHERSON, Kan. – The McPherson High School baseball team began their postseason run Tuesday, May 20 with the Regional Tournament at the Grant Sports Complex, defeating Circle 3-1 and Buhler 6-0 to win Regionals and punch their ticket to Dean Evans Stadium in Salina for the State Tournament.
SEMIFINAL vs. #16 CIRCLE: W 3-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| Circle: | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | ||
| McPherson: | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | 3 | 5 | 2 |
The No. 1 seeded McPherson Bullpups began the day against No. 16 Circle to start off Regionals. The Thunderbirds had a strong pitching performance from Landon Boldra, throwing four shutout innings to start off and striking out seven batters. The good news for McPherson was Logan Beede was doing the same as he threw five shutout innings with a season-high eight strikeouts.
The Bullpups struggled on offense with five hits in the entire game, but two of those came in the 5th inning where they scored three runs. A single and two hits-by-pitch led off the 5th with the bases loaded for McPherson. Cowen Huggard grounded out on the next play, but it scored Dane Becker who courtesy ran for Carter Allen to make it 1-0. Cade Strathman then singled to right field to score Isaac Barnett to make it 2-0. Then with runners at 1st and 3rd with one out, Brody Seidl bunted up the middle which scored Brenden Doile.
Circle added a run in the 6th inning with Allen pitching, but it was unearned as there were two defensive errors in the inning. Allen shut the inning down with a strikeout, but faced adversity early in the 7th as the T-Birds singled and walked to put the tying run on base with no outs. However, a ground out and back-to-back strikeouts closed it off to give Allen his first save of the season and give McPherson the win.
Even though Circle was a No. 16 seed, McPherson head coach Heath Gerstner gave them heavy praise. “Circle is outstanding,” Gerstner said. “They are far from a 16 seed. If you watch them play and watch them warm up, it doesn’t look anything like a 16 seed. They are a really good baseball team and I told our guys all week that they were going to be ready for the challenge.”
“Their pitcher today was awesome,” Gerstner added, giving praise to Circle starting pitcher Landon Boldra. “As you know from basketball season, he is a gamer. He was excellent today.” Gerstner referred to his 28-point and 11-rebound basketball game Boldra had when Circle handed the McPherson Boys Basketball team their lone league loss in February before the Bullpups moved forward to win the state title.
The win for McPherson broke two school records: Most wins in a season (24) and most runs in a season (263). However, this comes in the second year of the new KSHSAA format of allowing up to 26 regular season games in contrast when the previous records were set in seasons when they were only allowed up to 20 regular season games.
Circle’s season ended with a 9-18 record, but 11 of their 18 losses were within two runs or less.
FINAL vs. #8 BUHLER: W 6-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| Buhler: | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| McPherson: | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | X | 6 | 7 | 2 |
The Regional Championship game featured a rematch between McPherson and Buhler, two divisional rivals who face each other to close the regular season just a week prior. Ian Razak got the start on the mound and was worked by the Buhler offense from the jump. Razak got out of multiple jams to leave Crusaders on base however as only three hits were allowed, but all of which came from Buhler’s Jacob Miller.
McPherson left some guys on base early, but took an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Carter Bengtson, who left halfway through the game vs. Circle with a shoulder injury trying to dive for a popup, returned vs. Buhler and led off the inning with a double. After advancing to third base on a ground out, Brenden Doile drove him home on a grounded fielder’s choice. The offense then kicked the door down in the 4th and 5th innings.
In the 4th, Brock Richardson led off with a single and advanced on Razak’s sacrifice bunt. Bengtson then got his second hit of a day with a single to score Richardson and make it 2-0. Isaac Barnett then hit an infield single and Bengtson advanced to third after a defensive interference call. Doile then drove home Bengtson on a sacrifice fly to put the Bullpups up 3-0.
After a quick top of the 5th, McPherson got into scoring position with a one-out double by Brody Seidl to start the inning. Carter Allen then reached on an error to advance Seidl to third. Seidl would eventually score on a Richardson sacrifice bunt, making the score 4-0, but Richardson was safe at first base. After a ground out advanced the two runners on base, Bengtson struck again hitting a single to center field for his third hit of the day, scoring two runs to make it 6-0.
Razak returned to the top of the 6th with 95 pitches already thrown. He tried to get a quick inning to throw the full 6th, but an infield single with two outs put Razak over the pitch cap, therefore he exited throwing 5 2/3 innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven batters. The outing for Razak extends his streak of scoreless innings to now 28 in a row.
Allen entered to close off the game, getting the final four outs in 11 pitches, winning the game for the Bullpups and advancing them to their 10 State Tournament appearance in school history and their 4th under Heath Gerstner. It is also their third in the last four years, which included the State Title runs in 2022 & 2023.
One of the bigger stories in the game was Bengtson’s return even after leaving with an injury vs. Circle. The sophomore finished game two hitting 3-3 with 3 RBI’s. “He is just a tough kid,” Gerstner said. “It’s a tough moment when you have to ask him, ‘Can you go?’. He didn’t want to come out [vs. Circle], but I’m proud of him understanding that it was going to hurt the team if he stayed on the field. He got some ice, loosened it up, and told me in the dugout, ‘Coach, I think I can go game two."” He was able to stretch out his non-throwing shoulder and took some batting practice to get him able for the game.
McPherson is 25-3 and will head to Dean Evans Stadium in Salina for the State Tournament May 29-30. The full bracket will be released following the conclusion of the final 4A Regional on Thursday, May 22.
Six of the eight State Tournament teams have been determined for 4A. Joining McPherson so far will be Mulvane, Abilene, Clay Center, Rock Creek, and Paola. The Topeka-Hayden Regional will be Wednesday, May 21 and the Fort Scott Regional will be Thursday, May 22.
