On the final day of 5A baseball in Kansas, the Hays High were one of four teams with two game left to play. Andover Central, Maize South, and Blue Valley Southwest joined the Indians in the semifinals at Eck Stadium in Wichita.
Andover Central 6 - Hays 4
Hays surrendered five runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to a 6-4 loss to the top seeded Andover Central Jaguars. Hays left runners in scoring position in the first, third and fourth innings before breaking through in the fifth.
Carson Spray, Dalyn Schwarz and Ben Krannawitter all singled to open the fifth. Spray scored the Indians first run on Krannawitter's hit. Two batters later Dylan Dreiling crushed a three-run homerun to right field for a 6-4 score.
Highlights
The Indians put the tying runs on the base paths in the top of the fifth inning but could not take advantage as Andover Central went to the bullpen. Alex Ronk for the Jaguars set the next seven batters down in order to earn his eighth save of the season.
Coach Dustin Dreher
Carson Spray took the loss going an inning and two-thirds. Dalton Dale pitched a season high four and two-thirds of one run ball. Jacob Horn moved to 8-0 with the victory.
Hays 11 - Maize South 2
Garrett Wellbrock used all of his 105 pitch allowance to throw his first career complete game on the way to an 11-2 win over Maize South in the third place game Friday afternoon.
Wellbrock worked around multiple baserunners in four of the six innings to allow only two total runs, one of which was unearned following a throwing error.
Highlights
Hays scored in four of six innings of off six different Maize South pitchers. The Indians took the lead on a passed ball in the second inning to score Dalton Dale. The Mavericks tied the game at one in the top of third before Hays scored two more in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Hays added three more in the fourth and five runs in the fifth for the final difference at 11-2.
Coach Dustin Dreher
Hays finishes the year at 19-4 and place at the state tournament for the first time since 2000.
The team's .471 batting average ranks third best for a season.
Dylan Dreiling tied the school record for single season wins by a pitcher at nine. Also on the mound Dreiling set a new school record for season ERA at 0.52. His opponent batting average of .114 was fourth best for a single season. He also tied for seventh with 35 hits in a single season.
Dalton Dale finished the year with a .463 batting average food for 20th best in a single season. Dreiling batted .427 good for 36th best.
Dreiling moved into a tie for fourth with seven career home runs.
Dawson VonFeldt tied for fourth in single season walks at 23 and Garrett Wellbrock walked 22 times good for a sixth place tie.