No. 1 Bobcats halt THS baseball season
Tonganoxie baseball coach John Lee spoke throughout this season about the Chieftains’ struggling with big innings.
Basehor-Linwood strung three big innings together Monday in a 4A regional tournament quarterfinal game at Eisenhower Field in Kansas City, Kan.
The Bobcats’ scoring pyramid four in the second, five in the third and six in the fourth helped BLHS to a 15-0 win in five innings. The No. 8 Chieftains committed six errors in a loss that ended their season at 1-17.
“We didn’t hit the ball well and they did,” Lee said.
Bobcat pitcher Jeremy Sheehan held Tonganoxie to three hits in the shutout.
“He throws hard and he has a breaking ball,” Lee said. “His stuff was working pretty well.”
Tonganoxie surrendered 15 runs on 13 hits.
The game ended a rough season for six seniors Matt Alexander, Matt Gripka, Zach Sanders, Pat Weyer, David Saultz and Matt Tate.
Sanders will play baseball at St. Mary in Leavenworth, while Saultz is still deciding where to play college baseball. Alexander will head to Fort Scott Community College to play football in the fall, while Weyer will play football and baseball for the Greyhounds. Tate will join the military, and Gripka is heading to the University of Kansas on an academic scholarship.
Lee also will be leaving Tonganoxie for a position at Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Mo. He looked for his seniors to do well after high school.
“I wish them well in whatever they choose to do,” Lee said.
Regional box score
Tonganoxie 000 00 0 2 6
Basehor-Linwood 045 6x 15 12 0