Wellsville spoils Cubs’ bid for title

MANHATTAN — A state baseball title wasn’t in the cards for Humboldt High’s baseball team this season. The Cubs lost 10-0 to Wellsville in first round action of the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament.
There were a few questionable calls that involved second base, which didn’t help Humboldt’s cause to advance to day two of the tourney.
“Yeah, those calls didn’t make the difference between winning and losing. You’ve got to score runs if you want to win,” coach Mike Miller said. “We failed to do that, so in the end that doesn’t really matter. But, if those calls did go our way, that’s seven runs that go off the board.”
Down 3-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, Humboldt’s bid at a comeback wasn’t helped by a crucial call at second base. With a runner on first, Wellsville’s Lucas Dwyer laid down a sacrifice bunt that was intended to move the runner one base over. Catcher Rhett Smith threw the ball to shortstop Kason Siemens to get the lead runner at second base. It appeared that Siemens’ foot hit the front of the bag to get the force out, but the umpire called Wellsville’s runner safe at second base. Dwyer ended up safe at first base and Wellsville scored three runs in the inning to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
Another call that didn’t go the Cubs’ way came in the sixth inning. Again, it involved second base. With two outs, Wellsville’s Seth Breithaupt hit an RBI-triple to knock in a run. The next batter, Trent Smith, drew a walk. The call in question came when Smith stole second base. Humboldt’s Rhett Smith threw a bullet to Jake Haviland covering the bag. The throw beat Trent Smith, but the tag may have been a little-bit high. He was called safe. Smith came home on a three-run homer by Anthony Dougan to give Wellsville the 10-0 lead. The Eagles won in the sixth inning after Humboldt failed to score a run to keep the game alive.

IT WASN’T all bad news for Humboldt. In the top of the third inning, the Cubs showed off some leather — particularly Corey Whitcomb. To start the inning, Rayce Hoepker made a nice, backhanded catch at third base. Whitcomb followed with two highlight plays in center field. His first top-10 play was a head-first, diving grab. He topped that with an underhanded, behind the back catch that robbed the Wellsville batter of extra bases. He came into the dugout to a standing ovation from Humboldt’s fans.
The team suffered at the plate. Siemens had the only two hits — the first coming in the first inning and his second coming in his last high school at-bat in the sixth inning. Rhett Smith drew a walk and was Humboldt’s only other baserunner.
After throwing an efficient 42-pitch, five-inning no-hitter to clinch Humboldt’s spot into the state tournament, Jake Haviland got the nod for the Cubs. Although this wasn’t his best start, those calls may not have helped the mindset of the team.
“Seven runs came after the calls, but we’ve got to do a better job and move on from those plays,” Miller said. “We kind of let it get to us and we kind of lost our composure there. It ended up being a bigger deficit than it should have been.”
The Cubs finished the season 20-3. Coach Miller was pleased with the way his team performed this year
“The alternative is we’re done last week and sitting at home,” Miller said. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, I mean [Wellsville’s] a great baseball team. They won it all last year, now they’re back here for a reason. Hats off to them, they’re a very good baseball team and well-coached. Like I always tell our guys, you want to put your best foot forward and play your best. If you get beat, that’s part of it. We didn’t play our best by any means, but there’s a lot to be proud of.”
Seniors Jacob Carpenter, Kason Siemens and Zach Vanatta bid adieu to Humboldt’s baseball program, but they’ve left as winners — despite the loss to Wellsville.
“They’re going to go down now as the winningest group of seniors that we’ve had in our program,” Miller said. “This is their third time coming to state. I just can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for this program. They’ve been leaders on and off the field for us. They definitely carried us, they will be missed.”
Although next baseball season is about 10 months away, the experience that this team earned will help for next year. And hopefully, another run at the state tournament.
“We’ll just have to have some young guys step in for us again like they did this year. They need to step in and fill those shoes of the guys that are leaving,” Miller said. “We had some young guys that got some varsity experience, so in another year, hopefully they’ll be ready to fill those roles and get back here again.”