Hays entered the post season as the #2 seed for the west half of 5A at 19-1.  The record and seeding allowed for the Indians to host a regional tournament at Hays High School.  The only loss for Hays on the season came against Great Bend.  Unfortunately the second loss of the season to Great Bend will also keep Hays out of the 5A state tournament.

Game 1

A bases loaded home run by freshman Dylan Dreiling lifted the tension of a first inning deficit for Hays High on their way to a regional tournament semi-final win.  Newton plated three in the top half of the first inning on a hit batter, two singles and an Indian error.  Willie Sennett was hit in the head by a pitch, Palmer Hutchison was plunked and Trey Riggs singled to load the bases with one out.  Dreiling saw just one pitch with two outs in the inning.  He deposited that pitch over the right center fence for his fourth home run of the season.

Highlights

 

The lead allowed starting pitcher, Hutchison, to settle in.  He and the defense allowed just two more Newton base runners the remainder of the game.

Dominic Bainter provided an RBI in the third and fourth inning.  Prior to Bainter’s fourth inning hit that scored Dylan Dreiling for the final 9-3 difference, Trey Riggs belted a three run home run for an 8-3 advantage.

Coach Frank Leo

 

Palmer Hutchison went all seven innings allowing four hits, walking two, hitting a batter and striking out seven.  Newton’s Ben Schmidt took the loss as the Railers end the year at 2-19.  The victory for Hays High moves the Indians to 20-1.

 

Game 2

Wichita Northwest jumped out to a quick 2-0 in the first inning before Great Bend plated four in the second inning and never trailed again.  The Panthers pushed their advantage as high as 7-2 after the top of the sixth inning and led 7-3 after six which was the final score.  Colin Hall threw just 85 pitches in a complete game victory for Great Bend.

 

Championship Game

Great Bend scored a pair of runs in the top of the first on a two run double and held that lead through three innings against Hays in the Regional Championship Game.  Hays was quiet offensively through the first three innings.  Cody Petersen got to second base on a two base error, Palmer Hutchison was hit by a pitch, then both advanced on a wild pitch.  Two pitches later Trey Riggs scorched a single up the left field line to tie the game at two.

Highlights

 

Hays threatened to score in the fifth with two on and one out but was turned away.  Great Bend took advantage of an error in the sixth bring around a run for a 3-2 lead.  Hays went in order in the sixth and seventh innings around three runs in the top of the seventh for Great Bend.  The Panthers advance to the 5A State Tournament with a 6-2 victory and will enter the tournament at 10-10.  Hays ends the year 20-2 with both losses to Great Bend.

Coach Frank Leo

 

Trey Riggs takes the loss six and a third innings.  Cody Petersen pitched two thirds of an inning in relief.  Townsend Kurth threw just 61 pitches in a seven inning victory.  He hit one batter, did not walk any and allowed just three hits while striking out one.

 

The loss also marks the final game in the 39 years of Frank Leo’s career.  He leaves the program after 576 victories.

Hays High senior golfer Josh Norris signed a national letter of intent to golf with the Southeast Community College Storm on Thursday. The college is located in Beatrice, Nebraska. Norris said among other things that drew him to the school is that they have a two on-campus golf holes that you can play between classes.

As a four-year starter, Norris has played in every available varsity tournament. He has medaled in 18 of the 37 tournaments including five of the seven tournaments this season. This year’s individual championship at McPherson to open the season marked his first tournament crown.

Josh Norris

 

Norris was a member of the 2016 4A State Tournament Champion Team, fourth place 4A team in 2017 and runner-up 4A team in 2018. This year marks a return to 5A for the Indians. The team will host a regional tournament on May 13 at Smoky Hill Country Club.

Hays next will be on the road Friday in Liberal with a chance to capture the Western Athletic Conference crown. Norris finished as honorable mention in the WAC as a sophomore and on the first team as a junior.

Coach Mark Watts

 

A lifelong golfer, Norris has seen his score drop from an season average of 87 his freshman season to 77 as a senior.

A spotless 4-0 record over a three day stretch has given Hays High the title of Diamond Classic champions for 2019.  The round robin tournament hosted by the Indians also featured Goddard-Eisenhower, Great Bend, Salina Central and Manhattan.

Hays wrapped up the tournament and championship with a 9-6 win over Goddard-Eisenhower on Saturday.  The Indians took a 3-0 run in the bottom of the first inning only to give the runs back in the top of the second.  Hays tied the game in the bottom of the second and then trailed 5-4 entering the fourth.  Hays added three more runs in the fourth and two in the sixth to win 9-6.

Willie Sennett took the victory pitching in relief of starter Dylan Dreiling.  Brock Lummus drove in three runs and hit his second home run of the tournament.  Lummus was named MVP of the tournament.  Four of his five hits over the three days went for extra bases including two home runs, a double and a triple.  He drove in seven runs over the four days including the only run in a 1-0 win over Manhattan on Thursday.  He hit a home run in the game for the only run of the contest.

Also named to the all-tournament team for Hays was Willie Sennett, Trey Riggs, Palmer Hutchison and Cody Petersen.

Hays moves to 17-1 on the season and will end the regular season on Tuesday at Ulysses.  The Indians have secured at least the two seed at next week’s Regional Tournament.  Bishop Carroll leads the standings in the west half of 5A at 17-0.  All other teams in the west have at least four losses.

The remainder of the all tournament team included:
Aiden Proctor – Manhattan
Jackson Walker – Manhattan
Zac Cox – Manhattan
Ethan Crotty – Eisenhower
Wade Reynolds – Eisenhower
Collin Mackey – Eisenhower
Dakota Hogan – Salina Central
Brogen Richardson – Salina Central
Colin Hall – Great Bend
Koy Brack – Great Bend

 

Hays High hosted Liberal on Friday in a wind blown double header.  The evening was also an opportunity for the Indians to honor seniors Willie Sennett, Trey Riggs, Palmer Hutchison, Cody Petersen, Chance Murphy and Brandon Hoffman.

Game 1

Hays 1 – Liberal 0

The first game of the double header featured two of the best pitchers in the Western Athletic Conference.  Trey Riggs started for Hays High while Braxton Hyde got the nod for Liberal.  The two threw up zeroes on the scoreboard through the first three innings with neither pitcher facing much of a threat.

The Indians were able to finally scratch across a run in the bottom of the fourth.  Following three straight singles from Trey Riggs, Brock Lummus, and Dylan Dreiling to load the bases with no outs, Dominque Bainter came to the plate.  He was hit by the next Hyde pitch to send a run home.  That is all the Indians would get though as Hyde got a strike out and a double play to work out of trouble.

Game 1 Highlights

 

That was all Trey Riggs needed.  The senior stranded a runner at third in the fifth following an error and two wild pitches, stranded a runner at second in the sixth following a one out double, and runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh.

The 1-0 victory pushes Riggs’ record to 4-1 and marks the sixth time he has gone seven innings in a game during his career.  He struck out eight and walked just one.  Liberal’s Hyde struck out six, walked three and hit one batter.  His record drops to 5-1 but will improve on his 0.85 ERA to 0.71.

Game 2

Hays 13 – Liberal 3 (5 Innings)

Game two seemed to have the same makings of the first game.  A scoreless first inning gave way to a three run third by the Indians off the bat of Cody Petersen who drove in two runs on a single.  The Indians led 3-1 after the second inning.  Liberal scored off of two Hays errors and a wild pitch in the top of the third inning for a 3-1 score.

The Indians put little doubt into the outcome of the game in the bottom of the third.  Hays sent 14 to the plate against three different pitchers resulting in 10 runs.  Every batter in the lineup scored a run in the inning, Justus Dotts scored two as a courtesy runner for Brock Lummus who reached on a pair of hits.

Game 2 Highlights

 

Liberal scored two in the top of the fourth but would get no closer.  Hays closed the game out by run rule 13-3 in the fifth.

Palmer Hutchison takes the win and moves to 4-0 on the year.

Coach Frank Leo

 

With the double header sweep Hays wins their 18th Western Athletic Conference title under coach Frank Leo.  The Indians are now 13-1 on the season and Liberal drops to 10-6.

Hays will host the Diamond Classic tournament next Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Sterling College announced in April of 2018 they intended on adding Men’s and Women’s Swimming to their athletic offerings.  The program will begin in the 2019-2020 academic year.  Fast forward to April of 2019 and one of Hays High’s own made it official that he will be part of that inaugural season at Sterling.

Scout Perryman

 

Scout Perryman signed his letter of intent to swim for the Warriors.  Perryman started to competitively swim his freshman year of high school after his older brother who was a senior at a time introduced him the sport.  He swam the 100 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, and 50 yard freestyle in high school.

Coach Faith Schindler

 

Second year head coach Faith Schindler, who is also an assistant coach for the girls swim team, has seen the numbers of the swim team swell recently and hopes that Perryman’s success and signing will increase the popularity of the sport within the school.

The Sterling College program will be helmed by Gary Kempf who, according to a press release from Sterling College, “After high school, Kempf competed and swam for Kansas University. During his four years at KU, he won seven individual Big Eight titles while leading the Jayhawks to three conference crowns.”

More information on the new program for Sterling College can be found at https://www.scwarriors.com/article/2443

Hays High senior Palmer Hutchison signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Kansas City Kansas Community College on Monday morning.  The four year varsity player has had family play baseball there before and his older brother Hayden signed with Neosho Community College out of high school.

Hutchison over came health issues his sophomore season that kept him out of all athletics until over midway through the 2017 baseball season.  He is currently batting .441 for the 11-0 Indians after batting .375 as a junior.  He has a hit a team high five doubles along with a triple and his first career home run.

Palmer Hutchison

 

Hutchison is three doubles shy of joining Justin Shelton, Dylan Briggs and current teammate Trey Riggs for tenth in career doubles.  He has twelve multi-hit game to his credit over his career.

Hutchison has also started on the mound for five of the teams eleven games holding a 3-0 record.  He has a 2.37 ERA allowing seven earned runs in 20 2/3 innings.  He has 21 career pitching appearances and was used early in his career as a reliever and most recently as a starter.

Coach Frank Leo

 

Hutchison also was a multi year starter in football making his first appearance starting at safety his freshman season.  This past season he was the starting quarterback throwing for 1635 yards and running for 675 yards while accounting for 22 touchdowns.  He also totaled more than 150 career tackles with 96 coming his junior season, the only full season he played on defense.

The Indians are 11-0 on the season with a 3-0 mark in the Western Athletic Conference.  Hays High returns to action April 18th with a single game in Great Bend.

Hays High baseball hosted Dodge City on Friday for a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader.  The Indians kept their record spotless with a sweep of the Red Demons.

The Indians led 2-0 after Cody Petersen blasted a two run homer in the bottom of the first inning.  Hays however trailed Dodge City 7-2 by the time the bottom of the sixth inning came along.  Dylan Dreiling scored a single run for the Indians on an inside the park home run to get the deficit down to 7-3.

Chance Murphy worked a scoreless top of the seventh inning to keep the score steady.  Hays then finally got some momentum.  The first five batters of the inning reached on a pair of singles, two walks and a hit batter.  A single by Trey Riggs drove in a run which was followed by a bases loaded walk by Brock Lummus.  Josh Haynes walked with two outs to reload the bases and set up the heroics of Justus Dotts.  Dotts sent a 2-1 pitch just fair into left field scoring Riggs and Dom Bainter for an 8-7 victory.

Murphy who pitched the top of the seventh inning took his first career varsity win.

Highlights Game 1

 

In game two the Indians trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the second inning.  Hays scored four runs in the second and then eight in the third to take a commanding lead.  Four more runs for the Indians in the fourth inning allowed them to beat Dodge City 17-3 in five innings.  The Red Demons walked ten batters and hit another in game two as the Indians scored 17 runs on just 10 hits.

Cody Petersen took the victory in game two.

Highlights Game 2

 

Coach Frank Leo

 

Following the sweep of Dodge City Hays moves to 11-0 on the season and 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.  Dodge City falls to 6-4 and 0-4 in league play.

Hays High traveled to Goddard on Friday night for a sub-state championship game and berth to the 5A State Tournament.

Both teams played a tight first quarter and to a two all tie through the first six plus minutes of the game.  Hays had four chances to break the tie and take the lead but was unable to do so.  Goddard hit two shots in fifteen seconds to grab a 6-2 advantage.  The Indians trailed 8-5 after the first quarter then cut the deficit down to 8-7 after an Isabel Robben coast to coast basket with 3:30 to go in the half.

Hays had one chance to take the lead without success and then Goddard received points from an unlikely source.  A player that had made one three pointer on nine attempts on the season made back to back three pointers sandwiched around Jaycee Dale field goal for a 14-9 lead.  Goddard hit a third straight three for a 17-11 advantage before Robben hit a put back shot for a halftime score of 17-13.

Highlights

 

Goddard scored the first points of the third quarter to take a seven point lead at 20-13.  Back to back field goals from Brooke Denning and Taleia McCrae brought the Indians back within three at 20-17 and the lead remained around three points through the rest of the quarter and was at 24-21 heading to the fourth.

Goddard went on a 7-2 run for a game high eight point lead at 31-23 with 3:01 left.  Then it was the Indians turn for their best run of the game.  Six straight points by Hays closed the game down to a 31-29 score with 1:35 left.  The final 1:16 came down to free throws.  Goddard made 7 of 10 free throws while Hays made two of four attempts and made just one of their final five field goal attempts.

Coach Alex Hutchins

 

Goddard held on for a 38-33 win and punched a ticket to the 5A State Tournament in Emporia.  The #3 Lions go to state at 20-2 while the Indians finish their year at 14-8.

Hays was led by Savannah Schneider scoring ten point.

Hays graduates four seniors that combined for 330 games played, 249 starts, 2010 points, 1147 rebounds, 490 assists and 480 steals.  Mattie Hutchison played in a school record 86 games, Savannah Schneider 85 games, Kallie Leiker 84 games with 84 starts, and Jaycee Dale 75 games.