Hays Post Sports
HAYS —The TMP-Marian Monarchs baseball team is headed to the state tournament for a third straight season after claiming the regional championship Tuesday with wins over Medicine Lodge and Little River.
Game 1: Regional Semifinals; TMP 9, Medicine Lodge 0
TMP starter Ty Schmeidler struck out a career-high 16 and
allowed just one hit over six shutout innings, and all but one hitter in the
Monarchs lineup tallied a base hit as they defeated Medicine Lodge 9-0 in the
semifinals Tuesday afternoon at TMP.
Schmeidler set the tone early, striking out the first two batters of the game before giving up a two-out single. He then struck out the next hitter and was dominant the rest of the way.
He struck out the side in four of the six innings he pitched and scattered three hits and one hit batter over those six innings as he improved to 5-0 on the season.
The Monarchs broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning, scoring on a fielder’s choice for a 1-0 TMP lead.
That was all the offensive support Schmeidler needed, but the Monarchs continued to pile on.
They added two more runs in the third on a Carson Liles RBI single and a Caden Dinkel RBI groundout for a 3-0 lead.
TMP then blew the game open, scoring five runs — all with two outs — in the bottom of the fourth.
Grant Nehls doubled in a pair of runs, Schmeidler added a two-run double and Dinkel capped the inning with an RBI single, putting TMP up 8-0.
The Monarchs added a final run on an error in the bottom of the sixth on their way to securing the 9-0 victory.
Liles, Schmeidler and Logan Baalmann each collected a pair of hits for the Monarchs. Nehls, Schmeidler and Dinkel each drove in two runs.
Game 2: Regional Championship; TMP 16, Little River 1
The Monarchs’ offense exploded for 11 runs in the fourth
inning, and Carson Liles allowed just one unearned run in four innings as TMP
claimed the regional championship with a 16-1 run-rule victory over Little
River Tuesday at TMP.
Little River threatened to score in each of the first two innings of the regional championship game, but TMP starter Carson Liles was able to work around traffic on the basepaths all game long. The Monarchs offense struck first, scoring three times in the second inning.
Isaac Purinton singled in the game’s first run in the bottom of the second inning, and Nash Dreiling and Ian Nehls added RBI singles of their own, putting TMP up 3-0 through two innings.
Little River got a run back on an error in the third, but TMP answered with two more in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a Redskins error and a balk to make it 5-1 through three innings.
With the four-run lead, the Monarchs sent 13 hitters to the plate and scored 11 runs on their way to a 16-1 victory.
In the final frame, TMP scored on a Liles single, a three-run Caden Dinkel triple, a two-run error, a Connor Breit triple, an Ian Nehls single, a Liles triple and a Ty Schmeidler single.
Liles (8-0) earned the win on the mound. He allowed one unearned run on two hits with six strikeouts and three walks in four innings.
Ian Nehls finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Caden Dinkel was 1 for 1 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Every Monarch in the lineup scored a run, and all but two tallied a hit and drove in a run.
The win marks the third straight regional championship for the Monarchs.
The remaining Class 2-1A regionals will wrap up Wednesday, and the state tournament bracket will be released later this week.