FSHS completes league threepeat

Firebirds clinch third straight Sunflower League championship with 13-3 victory over Lancers

Winning a competitive Sunflower League wasn’t an easy feat, so it might have seemed odd that it took an easy victory to secure the league title.

The Free State High baseball team clinched its third consecutive Sunflower League championship with a 13-3, six-inning run-rule victory over Shawnee Mission East on Tuesday at FSHS.

FSHS coach Mike Hill said the league title set up the Firebirds well for a run at the state championship because the league could be harder to win than the state tournament.

“To win the league three years in a row is probably even tougher than the state tournament because you have to have sustained excellence for a month,” Hill said. “At the state tournament, if you’re hot for 36 to 48 hours, you can win the thing. We got everyone’s best shot.”

The Firebirds closed the book on the Lancers when Robby Price laced an RBI double to center to give Free State a 10-run cushion, invoking the mercy rule.

Despite the score, it wasn’t really that Free State went out and won the game as the Lancers gave it away, committing five errors and allowing 10 walks.

“Shawnee Mission East is a good baseball team, and I’m sure coach (Tim) Jarrell doesn’t believe that his team played as well as they could have today,” Hill said. “But we took advantage of the opportunities they gave us. Good teams will do that.”

The Firebirds jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning, but the Lancers inched their way back in to it, closing the gap to two in the fifth.

But Free State scored seven runs in the fifth, using only three hits as the Lancers did the rest.

Free State High's Brett Lisher takes off after hitting the ball against Shawnee Mission East. The Firebirds won their third Sunflower League championship in a row with a 13-3 victory over the Lancers on Tuesday at FSHS.

The inning started with Jake Hoover and Lorenzo Ricketts standing on second and third after Ricketts’ ground-rule double.

SM East pitcher Erik Anderson walked the next two batters, forcing in one run. Free State pitcher Max Ellenbecker slapped a double to left to score two more, and the rout was on.

Ellenbecker wasn’t too shabby on the mound, either. His only real blemish was giving up a home run to Trevor Walton in the fourth inning.

“The ball got elevated at times, but that happens,” Hill said. “He didn’t have his best stuff today, and that’s the sign of a good pitcher: When you don’t have your best stuff, and you go out and win.”

Ellenbecker was pleased to be the winning pitcher on the day the Firebirds won another league title, but said the team has bigger goals in mind.

Free State High's Robby Price (6) slides into Shawnee Mission East's Wes Stancher at third base. The Firebirds defeated the Lancers, 13-3, in a six-inning, run-rule game Tuesday at FSHS. With the victory, Free State clinched its third consecutive Sunflower League championship.

“It’s nice to win the Sunflower League, but our main focus is the (Class 6A) state tournament,” Ellenbecker said. “It’s definitely our expectation (to win state). It’s what we work for all season.”

Although the team’s league title is a positive sign, Hill said it’s not good enough to indicate whether it will win a state title.

“If we plan on winning the state tournament, we have to get better,” Hill said. “We’re not on par with winning a championship. And that’s not a knock on our team, they understand that.”

Ellenbecker said there wasn’t any specific deficiency with the team, just an overall need for improvement between now and the postseason.

“We just need to get a little more consistent and we’ll be better off,” Ellenbecker said.

For Hill, Tuesday’s victory was a plus for two reasons. It marked a quick turnaround after getting roughed up by Blue Valley North, 9-1, Monday; and it showed the Firebirds could win a stacked Sunflower League title with only one league defeat.

“It was my feeling that the league was so competitive this year that whoever won it would have to take three or four on the chin,” Hill said. “For us to lose only one speaks volumes about our players.”

Free State’s final regular-season game will be against Lawrence High at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Ice Field.