LAWRENCE —  Free State head coach Mike Hill had expected to use up all the pitches for his top ace, Zane Shaw, much earlier in this year's state tournament than in the 6A state championship game.

But sometimes, especially in baseball, plans can change unexpectedly. Sometimes, those unexpected changes are because everything goes wrong. Other times, things go even better than expected.

After Free State powered past their opponents in the previous two rounds without needing to exhaust their bullpen, the Firebirds were able to save the bulk of Shaw’s work for the championship game.

With only one inning on the mound late in the team’s 4-1 win over Washburn Rural, Shaw had his arm in peak form to pitch the bulk of his team’s 7-1 win over Shawnee Mission West in the finals May 30 at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

The Firebirds, who have reached the state tournament in seven straight seasons and in nine of the last 10, won their first state championship since 2015. That championship was also won at Hoglund Ballpark.

Free State head coach Mike Hill, said the team clinching the championship in a quasi-home setting added a little something to this state title, as well as the one from a decade prior.

“It's special,” Hill said. “There's also a little bit of pressure when you're playing at home, too. You know, there's expectations when you're at home that maybe aren't quite there on the road. But when you're able to get it done, it does add to it a little more.”

It was also special because this year’s squad had 11 seniors on the roster as the team went 28-2 to clinch the program’s third state title. 

This group finished their careers with a championship win after seeing each of the two previous senior classes close out with wins for lesser hardware. Free State took third in the previous two state tournaments, losing in the semifinals both of those years against the team which would ultimately win it all. The Firebirds would go on to win in the third-place games both times.
 

“Getting close and not not getting it always stings,” Hill said. “But I think they were just motivated by winning it. I kept reminding them all year long, we've had some pretty good teams here. Then I kept reminding them all year long of some teams that maybe were a little better than them, in a kind of a challenging way. 

“I certainly told them tonight they're the best.”

Part of what made them the best was not just all the seniors, but also a few of the other standouts who should be back to defend the title next year. Some of those include a pair of junior pitchers who worked hard to send the large senior class out on top.

One of those was Shaw, who pitched the first six innings of the final. He struck out seven batters and allowed just three hits and one earned run. 

Hill described the first three innings of the game for Shaw as “incredible.”

“Then he kind of ran into a rough spot in the fourth,” Hill said. “His breaking ball left him a little bit. You just can’t sit on a fastball with West, because they’ll make you pay.”

But even as Shaw found himself with his back against the wall, he and his teammates in the field found a way to prevent further damage.

Shawnee Mission West’s Connor Witt singled a hard grounder to right field to send senior shortstop Davis Robinson in for a score. Vikings senior pitcher Cooper Stein followed up with his own ground ball sent into left field to reach first and advance Witt to third.

With junior catcher Wyatt Otto facing an 0-2 count, Shaw decided to attempt to pick off Stein as the latter took a big lead off. Although Stein managed to avoid getting tagged in his pickle at second base, the sequence tempted Witt to try and steal home. By the time he made up his mind to return to third, junior second baseman Ben Graves already rifled the ball to sophomore third baseman Finn Moore at third base to make the tag.
 

Shaw got right back into his rhythm of throwing strikes, tossing another one right in the zone to send Otto back to the dugout. Shaw sprinkled in a couple more pickoff attempts with junior outfielder Ben Goodwin up to bat, and again Shaw needing just three pitches to strike him out and close out the inning.

“(Shaw) settled in the fifth and sixth,” Hill said. “When you got the kind of closer we got, it's just a matter of time before Ben Graves comes in. He's going to do what he does and that was it.”

As the Firebirds readied for that change on the mound, their offense would make sure the closer would have an even more comfortable lead with three outs to go. 

Senior outfielder Ryan Weishaar, senior first baseman Wesley Cupps and sophomore outfielder Ryker Mahnke each hit singles to load the bases for Free State. Shawnee Mission West senior pitcher Schmidt, who entered the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth, struck out senior outfielder Cole Wright to secure the first out of this inning for the Firebirds.

Just as Graves did in the previous inning with his play in the field, he undercut the Vikings’ optimism with his performance in the batter’s box. Graves followed up by hitting a line-drive single to left field, sending Weishaar in for the score and putting Cupps and Mahnke into scoring position.

Schmidt ended up hitting Moore with a pitch, allowing Cupps to score. Vikings senior pitcher Graham VanArsdale took over on the mound, starting with a strikeout of senior catcher Andrew Zimmerschied. After that, senior shortstop Charlie Peters hit a single with a fly ball to left field, allowing Mahnke and Graves to score while Moore advanced to third.

Robinson tracked down a grounder from sophomore outfielder Owen Lester and tossed the ball to Nick Miller at first to secure the third out and reach their final at-bat with a slight chance remaining for a comeback.

But Graves, who also pitched the last inning in the quarterfinals, methodically worked through the last inning as he struck out two batters and allowed zero hits to finish off the 7-1 win.

On a 2-2 count, he got Stein to hit a pop out to Peters. Graves ended up hitting Otto with a pitch, but struckout Goodwin to put his team one out away from the title. He walked Watkins, allowing Otto to reach scoring position at second. Otto would steal third, but never got a chance to reach home before Graves earned the strikeout to clinch the state championship for Free State.
 

As the team’s go-to closer, Graves said he never felt rattled in that moment, even with a state championship on the line.

“I've been closing games all year and it's really not many nerves coming into these games, because I know my teammates have my back,” Graves said. “I know that they're going to, they're going to trust me and so I just go out there and pitch. 

“It's just a great feeling having a group of guys that are behind me no matter what,”

While Free State had its pitching rotation work out from start to finish at state, their finals opponent felt like they would be able to say the same until the Firebirds lit up the scoreboard early and late in this game.

Shawnee Mission West had reached the finals with a pair of pitchers delivering full-game performances and allowing just three runs of two games. But in the championship against Free State, the Vikings would end up needing to rotate through four pitchers over six innings.

Mahnke and Peters led Free State’s offense in the finals. Mahnke earned three of his team-high five hits at state during the championship game, while Peters had two RBIs against the Vikings. Moore led the team in RBIs at state with five, including three in the team’s 6-0 win over Manhattan in the semifinals.

For the Vikings, Stein led the team at state with four hits. Witt drove in a team-high three runs, while Miller and senior outfielder Cash Phillips joined him in sending multiple runners across home plate.

Shaw acknowledged that the team’s finishes the last two seasons definitely played a role in his team’s focus on closing out this year with a title.


“We were talking in the locker room today, ‘I’m so excited to go watch the third-place game instead of playing in it,’” Shaw said. “It just leaves a little saltier taste to the end of the year. It definitely puts more of a drive at the end of the (next) year and makes it more fun winning it.”

To reach the finals, Young pitched seven innings for Free State against Manhattan. He allowed just three hits and no runs. Young struck out five batters.

Shaw enjoyed watching his teammate deliver the complete game shutout in the semis.

“Nathan's outing was awesome, man,” Shaw said. “It was his best outing this year and he needed a confidence booster.

“After that game, the mood in the locker room and stuff, it was so much higher because he opened it up for us.”

In the quarterfinals, Larkin pitched five innings with seven strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and one earned run.

Larkin faced a bit of trouble in the top of the third. He ended up walking his first three batters to give the Junior Blues loaded bases. Washburn Rural junior first baseman Drew Moore hit a grounder that led to him reaching base on an error to first, as well as sending in senior outfielder Gage Dowell for a run to give Washburn Rural a 1-0 lead.

But Larkin overcame the pressure situation, starting with forcing junior designated hitter AJ Payne into a ground ball to Peters at shortstop. Peters fired the ball to Zimmerschied to secure the first out by stopping junior shortstop Austin Ditch from advancing to home. Larkin followed up with a strikeout.

As a ball put junior catcher Aidan Newbery in a 1-1 count, Zimmerschied opted not to return the ball to his pitcher. Instead he fired the ball to Moore to tag out junior second baseman Nate Selm returning to third for the final out of a salvaged half-inning for the Firebirds.

“Blaine didn't have his best stuff, but he was working his butt off and he gave us the outing we needed to get on the right pace, right page,” Shaw said.
 

Hill was not surprised by how much grit Larkin showed in that situation, just as he was not surprised by how Shaw handled a similar spot in the final.

He’s also seen how “The Blaine and Zane Show” handle themselves in another sport that requires both physical and mental fortitude on the championship stage.

Larkin and Shaw are both members of the Free State boys wrestling team during the winter. Both competitors earned state medals this past year.

Larkin took fifth at 215, one year after finishing as the state runner-up in that same weight class. After not placing at state during his first trip to state as a sophomore, Shaw took fifth at 190 this season.

Hill pointed to Larkin and Shaw as perfect examples of why it’s important to have players on his team who compete in other sports than just baseball.

“They learn how to compete in different ways,” Hill said. “That's such a physically and mentally demanding sport that when they get into some tough moments, like Zane got in the fourth today, he's got the fortitude to get through that and those moments that have shaped him in that regard.”
 

When Larkin got through his tough moment against Washburn Rural, it set the Firebirds up for their run to the title.

Free State tied up the game in the bottom half of that inning, then took the lead with a run in the next inning and finally pushed their lead to three runs with a couple more scores in the fifth. The Firebirds would not trail again the rest of the way through state as they took multiple-run leads in the opening inning of their next two outings.

After the team clinched the championship, the Firebirds went to celebrate deep into left field as their student section finally got the all-clear to join them. Their classmates burst past the home dugout along the third-base line and swarmed them with cheers, hugs and a water bath.

One of the students leading the charge, senior Grayson Hagen, happens to be a wrestling teammate of Larkin and Shaw. Hagen quickly searched out Larkin, who had his hands raised in the air above a rush of green-clad Free State faithful. Hagen took advantage of the distraction and wrapped his arms around an unsuspecting Larkin, lifting him into the air and onto the ground for a takedown befitting a state wrestling celebration than one for state baseball.

It might be the only time in Larkin’s career that he smiled through receiving a takedown rather than delivering one.

This is the third state championship in baseball for Free State. The team previously won in 2006 and 2015. All three championships were won under Hill, who has been the program’s only coach since the school opened in 1997.

Free State had 11 seniors on this team, including Larkin, Wright, Cupps, Peters, Zimmerschied, Hugh Kneidel, Cayman Cook, Andrew Smith, and Isaiah Wiedeman.