SALINA — The Humboldt Cubs fell to the St. Thomas More Prep Monarchs 10-0 in the KSHSAA State Tournament quarterfinals Monday.
A three-run fifth inning forced a 10-0 mercy-rule to end the game. It was the second consecutive time the Cubs’ run at a state title ended almost as soon as it began.
“Thomas More Prep is the No. 1 seed for a reason, and they have a really talented team,” Humboldt coach Mike Miller said. “We loaded the bases in the first inning, but weren’t able to come up with a big hit when we needed it.”
Junior shortstop Gavin Gunderman registered Humboldt’s only hit of the evening as the Monarchs scored 10 unanswered runs, beginning with four in the opening frame. Sophomore pitcher Ty Shaughnessy took the loss. He tallied three strikeouts, giving up 10 runs on four hits and six walks. That stat-line may be a bit misleading. Six of those runs were earned runs. The remaining four
came on a trio of costly errors by the Cubs.
“We didn’t really put many good at-bats together after the first against a really tough pitcher,” Miller said. “Ty has been so good for us on the mound all season, but he really battled his command against a great lineup. It’s unfortunate, because we wouldn’t have gotten this far without him.
“We knew that in order to stay in the game we would have to make them earn everything. Too many free bases and errors allowed them to get out to an early lead. And we didn’t do enough offensively to put any pressure on them.”
With the loss, Humboldt ends the year with a 16-12 record.
They graduated seniors Grady Elder, Hayden Kelley, Carson Russell and Mason Sterling earlier this month. Elder and Sterling will be the most significant holes to fill next season. But the returning roster looks promising.
“The season didn’t end how we wanted but it was still a tremendous success,” Miller said. “I was so happy for our seniors to be able to get back to the state tournament one last time. This experience for our underclassmen will only help us going forward.”
