photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State baseball players stand in a line after receiving the 6A state baseball runner-up trophy after a 4-3 loss to Washburn Rural T Eck Stadium in Wichita on Saturday, May 30, 2026.

WICHITA — Baseball is often a game of a few feet, and that was exactly the case in Saturday’s 6A state championship.

Trailing by one run and down to its last out, Free State had a chance to tie the game on a passed ball before Eli Berns was tagged out at home just in time, giving No. 5-seeded Washburn Rural the win, 4-3, at Eck Stadium.

“We were telling Eli to watch the ball in the dirt, and I don’t fault him one bit for doing what he did,” head 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 the kid for putting in that effort.”

Saturday’s championship game came down to the narrowest of margins, as Washburn Rural put together a few timely hits in the early innings to score a few runs, while Free State couldn’t capitalize.

The Firebirds put the tying runner on in each of the final three innings, but were unable to pull through with a game-altering hit.

“We had our opportunities, we just didn’t get the timely hit there at the end,” Hill said. “Our kids did what they needed to do, (but) just didn’t get the outcome.”

A lot of Free State’s early offensive struggles had to do with Washburn Rural starter Preston Bahr, who tossed 5 2/3 innings of three-run baseball, allowing nine hits and one walk while striking out three.

Bahr topped out at around 80 mph with his fastball, but it was his offspeed pitches that the Firebirds had trouble adjusting to early.

“We didn’t barrel stuff,” Hill said. “We had a couple hard outs, but early, typically in the early innings, we just didn’t put any pressure on them defensively, and that’s a credit to (Bahr) for mixing things up. He did a fine job, but again, we had our chances.”

Free State countered with senior Nathan Young on the mound. The Barton Community College commit tossed seven innings and settled in after allowing three runs in the first inning, striking out five batters for the game.

“I thought Nathan did a fantastic job after the first,” Hill said. “They kind of ambushed us early, and they could have really gotten (the score) out of control, and he fought his way out of it.”

In the top of the first, the Junior Blues quickly loaded the bases with a single, an error, and an intentional walk before a two-run double by catcher Aidan Newbery drove in the game’s first runs. The third run of the inning came across on a sacrifice fly before Young got out of the inning with a strikeout.

Free State (26-5), however, brought just three batters to the plate in its first time batting as Bahr induced two groundouts and a popup.

Young retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the second before giving up back-to-back singles. He stranded both runners, however, by inducing a groundout to end the inning.

The Firebirds’ first two batters of the second both reached base as Owen Lester and Finn Moore both hit singles to begin the inning. After a flyout, Lester scored on the third single of the frame, hit by Ferris Dinkel, before a strikeout and a lineout halted the remainder of the threat.

Washburn Rural began the top of the third with a single, but that was the only baserunner Young would allow in the inning, inducing a pop-up before recording two consecutive strikeouts. The bottom of the inning was quick, with Bahr recording two strikeouts before inducing a groundout.

For the third time in four innings, the leadoff man reached base for the Junior Blues as Young issued a walk. Another error put a second runner on before a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. One run scored on a single to make the score 4-1 before Young produced a groundout to retire the side.

Lester began the bottom of the fourth with his second hit of the day before a 6-4-3 double play killed any momentum for the time being and another groundout sat the Firebirds down.

Young gave up a first-pitch single before retiring the next three hitters to keep the score at 4-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Dinkel reached base for the second time with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Carter Laubach.

The inning continued as Ryker Mahnke laid down a bunt for a single, Berns followed suit with an infield single and Ben Graves worked a walk before Lester flied out to end the threat.

Young pitched his first 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. before the Firebirds were able to get a run back in the home half of the inning. Moore was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a single by Dinkel before scoring on another single by Laubach.

Washburn Rural brought in left-hander Isaac Ansley to face Mahnke, and he needed just one pitch to escape the jam, inducing a pop-up to shortstop as the Junior Blues remained in front, 4-3.

After a scoreless top of the seventh, Berns reached base to begin the home half of the inning with a leadoff single before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a wild pitch. With two strikes and two outs, Ansley’s pitch hit the dirt and trickled away from Newbery before he was able to recover just in time to tag out Berns attempting to score the game-tying run.

The loss is Free State’s fourth by one run in the state championship game, with the previous three coming on walk-offs.

“It’s what we talked to (the players) about: Life isn’t going to give you what you want every time, but are you still willing to do the things that are necessary to get it, even if you don’t get it?” Hill said. “And that’s what, in my estimation, coaching high school athletics is all about: trying to teach that to our young people so that they can take that with them the rest of their lives.”

The Firebirds’ senior class of Graves, Berns, Young, Zane Shaw, Karson Bowers, Darin Fehr, Ryan Vigna, and Kyle Sikes will be leaving the program after earning two third-place finishes, a state championship in 2025 and a runner-up finish in their high school careers.

“One of the things that we talk a lot about here is there are people who like to win and people who hate to lose,” Hill said. “You’d much rather be surrounded by people who hate to lose because they’re willing to go a little bit further than a guy who likes to win, and I think this senior class really embodied that mantra of hating to lose.”