CHEROKEE For the second-straight year, Humboldt baseball is heading to state.
The third-seeded Cubs cruised through two-seed Northeast-Arma and one-seed Southeast-Cherokee on Tuesday on their way to a regional title.
“I’m incredibly proud of the way we competed on Tuesday,” head coach Mike Miller said. “We’ve not been playing very good baseball the last few weeks so for us to come out and compete the way we did says a lot about this group’s character.”
Humboldt (20-3) opened the day with a big 12-2 win over Arma and came into the regional final going full steam ahead.
Southeast-Cherokee took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but after that, it was all Humboldt.
The Cubs scored four in the second and two in the third to push their lead to six. Start ing pitcher Gunner Elder shut the door for the final 3.2 innings before Dagen Goodner came out to get the final out of the game.
Humboldt did their best to take advantage of Cherokees starter. After he left the game, the Cubs got across just two hits in the final four innings.
Elder earned the win, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Goodner walked two before recording the final out.
“Gunner was unbelievable on the mound,” Miller said. “It was only his second start of the year, but I knew that he would go out and compete his tail off and give us a chance to win.”
Joe Murrow had two hits and Elder and Cooper Jaro each had a double.
The Cubs will now head to Great Bend next week for the 2-1A State Tournament on Thursday and Friday.
Other state qualifiers that have been announced include Wichita-Independent, Prairie Village-Kansas City Christian and Marion.
Last season, Humboldt fell in a close 5-4 game to Riley County in the opening round of the 3A tournament in Manhattan.