FSHS baseball falls in extras against Olathe NW

Free State senior pitcher Aaron Funk delivers a pitch in a Firebirds 10-0 win against the Topeka High Trojans Wednesday in a 6A regional baseball game at FSHS. Funk threw a five-inning no-hitter.

May can be such a cruel month for seniors competing in high school baseball, striving to get to the state tournament.

This cruel: Free State High right-hander Aaron Funk pitched a five-inning no-hitter with six strikeouts and led his team to a 10-0 run-rule victory Monday evening against Topeka High and at the end of the day he was in tears.

And they were tears of sadness, not joy, brought on by a 4-1, eight-inning loss to Olathe Northwest, which ended the Firebirds’ season, tears shed over the harsh reality that a group of baseball players who accomplished so much for so many years has played its last game together.

“That’s my first no-hitter I’ve thrown,” Funk. “It feels great to do it, but . . . “

But it’s over. And that’s what dominated the thoughts of Funk and the rest of the Firebirds trying and failing to fight back tears. Funk wanted to feel good about the no-hitter, but at that point it almost felt like ancient history to him.

He was able to look back on his career with more cheer.

“It was a blast,” Funk said of his Free State baseball experience. “Players coming up through the system, they just need to cherish it. The coaches might be hard. You might get into arguments with players, but these are my brothers. I love every single one of them.”

After Funk dominated Topeka, Free State left-hander Dale Miller and Olathe Northwest lefty locked in a pitcher’s duel that kept the crowd at Free State riveted on every pitch.

Miller limited the Ravens to one unearned run on three hits and struck out six through seven innings, but trailed 1-0 because Brady Walker pitched a masterpiece, dropping a sharp-breaking curveball under swinging bats and into the strike zone for called strikes. He took a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and no walks heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Third baseman Zion Bowlin, who looked like a big-leaguer charging a bunt and zipping a throw to first for the first out in the top of the seventh led off the bottom of the inning with a line single to right and scored the tying on Nathan Strathman’s towering shot that made it to the wall in left-center, a play that ended with Strathman made the first out of the inning at third trying to take the extra base. Jaden Moore hit a two-out double, but was stranded.

Olathe Northwest put three runs on the board in the eighth and would have had more if not for center fielder Jacob Pavlyak making yet another spectacular diving catch.

The Firebirds put two runners on base in the eight but couldn’t bring them home.

For Mike Hill, Free State’s first and only baseball coach, it spelled the end of his 20th season, one he had hoped would result in a ninth trip to the state tournament and a third state title.

Such numbers weren’t on his mind afterward. He too was struggling with the reality that a group with whom he had spent so much time had played its final game together. His son, shortstop Matt Hill, was one of 14 seniors on the 18-man squad.

“Relationships,” Hill said. “It’s a group of kids I’m very close with. Some of them I coached since they were 8, 9 years old. A bunch of them have grown up in my house. They were in my refrigerator, screaming in my basement, in and out my front door and that’s the way I like it.

“They’ve had an enormous amount of success on the field. A bunch of them are walking out of here with a ring on their finger from a (2015) state championship and played in one of the greatest state-championship games I’ve ever been a part of a year ago (a 4-3 loss in eight innings to Shawnee Mission East). Honestly, they’re like my sons.”

Northwest 001 000 03 — 4 6 0

Free State 000 000 10 — 1 5 2

W — Brady Walker. L — Dale Miller.

2B –Jaden Moore (2), Zion Bowlin, Nathan Strathman, FSHS.

Free State highlights — Miller 8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K; Nathan Strathman RBI double, Bowlin two hits.

Topeka 000 00 — 0 0 0

Free State 220 51 — 10 10 1

W — Aaron Funk. L — Keaton Gage.

2B — Zion Bowlin (2), FSHS.

3B — Miller, Jake Baker.

Free State highlights — Funk five-inning, no-hit, no-walk shutout with six strikeouts; Bowlin two runs, 2 RBIs; Daniel Bryant three runs, Miller two hits, three RBIs.