WICHITA – Washburn Rural baseball waited nearly three quarters of a century to end its state championship drought.

With the Junior Blues one strike away from a Class 6A title against defending champion Lawrence Free State on Saturday at Eck Stadium, their 74-year wait came down to a frantic few seconds.

With Rural protecting a one-run lead and the tying run at third base in the bottom of the seventh inning, the 1-2 pitch from Isaac Ansley skipped away from catcher Aidan Newbery and rolled a few feet to his left.

As Free State’s Eli Berns raced down the third-base line, Newbery quickly scooped up the ball and dove back to the plate to narrowly apply the tag on Berns and seal a 4-3 victory and Rural’s first baseball state championship since 1952.

“I saw the ball right next to me and I knew I just needed to run as hard as I could no matter what,'' Newbery said. “All I did was just hold onto it as hard as I could and then just make a play.

“I figured I was closer (than Ansley) and I knew I wanted it so I just took it.”
 

 

Newbery’s play quickly made the rounds on social media. By Saturday night, it had been featured on SportsCenter as a Top 10 play.

"I thought it was going to be close, but when you think of these games and you dream about them, that's not the play that you think it ends on for sure,'' Washburn Rural coach Jay Mastin said.

Free State scratched across one run in both the fifth and sixth innings to creep within a run.

Berns opened the bottom of the seventh with a single and was moved to second on a sac bunt by Ben Graves.

Ansley then recorded a key strikeout to keep Berns at third and set up the dramatic finish.

“We were telling Eli to watch the ball in the dirt, and I don't fault him one bit for what he did,” Free State coach Mike Hill said. “I think there was probably just a little hesitation, and that little hesitation was the difference. But you're never going to fault a kid for putting in the effort. I was totally okay with it.”

Rural (22-8) did most of its damage right out of the gate. The Junior Blues put their first four batters on base, aided by a throwing error from Free State.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Newbery ripped a two-run double to left. Rural added another run on a sacrifice fly from Dominic Nimz.

“That just set the tone for the whole game. It just set everything in place,” Newbery said.

Free State got on the board in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Ferris Dinkel. Rural restored a three-run lead in the fourth on a single from Austin Ditch.

Carter Laubach helped the Firebirds chip away with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. However, Rural prevented Free State from a big inning, with starter Preston Bahr and Ansley combining to strand five runners in the fifth and sixth innings.

Bahr worked 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory before Ansley closed out the final four outs.

“There were some tough times,” Bahr said. "But I was just battling through, knowing I had a great defense, knowing that we have the best defense in the state. It feels great.”

Rural’s championship breakthrough came during its eighth state tournament appearance since 2014. The Junior Blues were playing in their first state title game since the 1952 championship.

“It’s all about these kids this year and everything they’ve put into it, all the hard work and the determination,” Mastin said. “It paid off today, for sure.

“Just scrappy dudes who like playing the game of baseball. They want to win, and they want to win for each other.”

The Junior Blues have a 10-player senior class – Newbery, Ditch, Ansley, Noah Johnson, A.J. Payne, Nate Selm, Gavin Payne, Drew Moore, Jackson Keller and Brody Haas.

“I can't even describe it,” Newbery said. “Words can't describe how amazing this is. I mean, we've worked our butts off for the four years here, and it's incredible.”

Free State (26-4) finished with 10 hits but couldn't come up with the timely hit late, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and runners on the corners in the sixth.

“Pitching, defense, timely hitting, right?” Hill said. “That's the name of the game and credit to Washburn Rural, they played flawlessly defensively. We had our opportunities. We just didn't get the timely hit there at the end. Our kids did what they needed to do, just didn't get the outcome.”

Free State starter Nathan Young bounced back from the rough first inning and went the distance, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Firebirds will lose eight seniors – Berns, Graves, Young, Kyle Sikes, Zane Shaw, Karson Bowers, Darin Fehr and Ryan Vigna.

It also marked the end of an era, with Hill announcing on Monday he was retiring after 29 seasons as Firebird coach. He led Free State to three state titles (2025, 2015, 2006) and four runner-up finishes (2004, 2016, 2019, 2026). Hill compiled a 464-194-1 record.

In the 6A semifinals this year, he coached against his son, Matt, in his first season at Shawnee Mission South after serving as an assistant at Free State.

“There is never a great time to move on from something you love, but sometimes, there is a right time,” Hill said in his retirement announcement. “The success of the baseball program at Free State and the players and coaches in it has been at the forefront of my daily thoughts since starting the program in the summer of 1997. While my passion for the program, the game and assisting the young men who play it burns as intensely as ever, the time is right to hand this privilege to someone new.”