1 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (24-4)
Coach Rick Sabath
Regional—Aquinas 12, Bonner Springs 2; Aquinas 9, Leavenworth 0
Quarterfinal—Valley Center (17-11), 11 a.m. Thursday
Key Players—OF Cru Huenfeld; IF Westin Boyle; IF Ernie Lopez; OF/P Lincoln Boyle; OF/P Will Ray; C/P James Forgy; OF/IF Brady Stewart; IF/P Nic Sabers; P Sterling Thornton
NOTES—Aquinas is defending 5A state champion, beating Spring Hill 6-4 in last year’s championship game. … State title was fourth for the program with others coming in 2007, 2014 and 2016. … Saints also finished second in 2017 and 2019. … Saints were Eastern Kansas League champions this year, losing only to Blue Valley Northwest in league play. … Only other losses came to 6A qualifier Mill Valley, Staley, Mo. and Liberty North, Mo. … Saints have wins over state qualifiers Free State, Blue Valley Southwest, Great Bend, Washburn Rural and Blue Valley. … Huenfeld is school record-holder for home runs, hits, doubles and RBI. … Lincoln Boyle has 5 home runs and 36 RBI and is 7-2. … Sabers, Thornton and Ray are all 5-0 and Saints have team ERA of 2.14. … Boyle and Ray both have no-hitters this season. … Westin Boyle has scored 41 runs. … Saints have team batting average of .351. … Sabath has led teams to state tournament nine times.
8 VALLEY CENTER (17-11)
Coach: Randy Mutt
Regional—VC 5, Salina Central 2; VC 2, Andover Central 1
Quarterfinal—St. Thomas Aquinas (24-4), 11 a.m. Thursday
Key Players—Austin Saner; Connor Meyer; Doc Needham; Cooper Boone
NOTES—Last trip coming in 2022. … Hornets made 10-win improvement this season after winning just seven games last year. … Mutt in first year as head coach of the program. … Valley Center split with 6A qualifier Maize. … Hornets started season 2-5. … Win over Andover Central in regional finals was third of season over the Jaguars. … Needham, senior Aydan Hyson and sophomore Preston Luna have led pitching staff that’s set the tone for the team. … Boone is hitting .429. … Meyer has a .344 average and Saner is hitting .307.
4 SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (21-7)
Coach Jason Brown
Regional—Shawnee Heights 8, Highland Park 0; Shawnee Heights 5, De Soto 3
Quarterfinal—Hays (18-8), 1:15 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—Deacon Pomeroy, sr., U; Carson Garner, sr., 1B; Makade Orton, jr., OF; Brody Cooper, jr., P; Cambren Floberg, jr. P/SS
NOTES—Brown in first year as head coach of T-Birds after being C team coach for past 10 seasons and led T-Birds back to state tournament for second straight year, replacing Ryan Schmidt. … Heights lost in last year’s quarterfinals to Spring Hill. … Heights has four state titles in program history — 1994, 1999, 2001 and 2011 – and took second in 2016 to St. Thomas Aquinas. … T-Birds went 15-1 in United Kansas Conference to claim league title, lone loss coming to fellow 5A qualifier Piper. … Pomeroy is hitting .432 and is Oklahoma State signee. … Cooper is 8-0 with a 2.02 ERA while Floberg is 8-0 with a 1.87 ERA. … They’ve combined for 53 strikeouts. … Garner is hitting .318 and Orton .311 with Orton stealing 16 bases. … Cooper Wohler threw no-hitter in regional semifinals and Floberg allowed just one earned run in regional title game. … Pomeroy had bases-loaded triple in sixth inning of regional title game and Cooper came in for second save. … T-Birds are stellar defensively with just 18 errors in 638 chances for a team fielding percentage of .989. … Team ERA is 3.05 and team batting average is .400.
5 HAYS HIGH (18-8)
Coach Dustin Dreher
Regional—Hays 6, Salina South 5; Hays 2, Andover 1
Quarterfinal—Shawnee Heights (21-7), 1:15 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—3B/P Carter Graham; IF/P Cooper Johnson; SS/P Johnny Cano; LF/P Trace Jacobs; CF Ian McGuire; IB/P Jalen Smith
NOTES--Hays returns to state for first time since 2021 when Indians finished third. … Indians captured Western Athletic Conference title, going 2-1 against fellow 5A qualifier Great Bend to secure the crown. … League title was fourth straight. … Indians only gave up two earned runs in regionals. … Graham leads team with .425 average and has 4 home runs and 34 RBI. … He’s also 4-2 with a 2.65 ERA and a save. … Johnson is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA and Cano is 5-1 with a 1.54 ERA. … Johnson also hitting .362 and Cano is hitting .312 with 26 runs scored. … Jacobs hitting .349 with 20 RBI. … McGuire and Smith both hitting over .310 with Smith driving in 17.
2 GREAT BEND (23-5)
Coach Randy Beck
Regional—GB 10, Arkansas City 0; GB 5, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 4
Quarterfinal—KC Piper (17-10), 3:30 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—P/OF Carson Umphres; 1B Ian Premer; SS/P Daxton Minton; P/CF Koehn Ribordy; LF/P Hunter Herrman
NOTES--Panthers have qualified for state for the sixth time in Beck’s 15 years as head coach with the last appearance coming two years ago. … Great Bend is 0-5 in quarterfinals under Beck. … Panthers finished runner-up in Western Athletic Conference to fellow 5A qualifier Hays, who beat them in two of three meetings. … Sweep of Manhattan at end of season was big momentum for postseason. … Only other losses came to 5A qualifier St. Thomas Aquinas, 5A power Bishop Carroll and 4A qualifier McPherson. … Umphres was WAC player of the year and led Panthers in average (.450), OBP (.611), hits (36), home runs (5), runs (44), and stolen bases (31) with his home run and stolen base totals school records. … He also logged 58.2 innings and had 61 K's, a 1.67 ERA and a 7-2 record. … Premer, Minton and Ribordy all hit better than .400 this season as Great Bend hit .342 as a team and scored 240 runs. … Herrman threw a no-hitter in the regional semifinals against Arkansas City.
7 KC PIPER (17-10)
Coach: Randy Robertson
Regional—KC Piper 5, Pittsburg 3; KC Piper 3, Basehor-Linwood 2
Quarterfinal—Great Bend (23-5), 3:30 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—Kaiden Simons, jr.,, OF; Mason Porter, jr., OF; Myles Ross, jr., SS; Dylan Eikenbary, so., 1B/P; Judah Monhollon, jr., C; Eli Utter, sr., 3B; Carter Laird, jr., OF/P; Kellen Heier, sr., OF; Jovahni Perez, sr., 2B; Connor Musil, jr., P; Jack Bakarich, sr., P; Roch Emanuel, jr., 1B/P.
NOTES—Piper making first-ever state tournament appearance in Class 5A with last berth in 2019 coming in Class 4A. … Pirates captured 4A state title in 1988. … Robertson in first year as head coach of program. … Pirates upset Basehor-Linwood in regional final after getting swept by Bobcats in regular season doubleheader. … Piper started season 3-3 and had a three-game slide in late April and early May in a stretch where it went just 2-6. … Only loss in last 10 games came to 6A qualifier Mill Valley. … Piper split with 5A qualifier Shawnee Heights, the T-Birds’ lone United Kansas Conference loss. … Eikenbary is 6-1 and Laird is 6-2 to lead pitching staff with the duo combining for 98 strikeouts. … Musil and Bakarich have combined for 5 saves. … Ross is hitting .349 with 18 RBI. … Three other Pirates are hitting better than .300 with a combined 62 RBI. … Ross and Perez have combined for 17 double plays.
3 BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST (21-6)
Regional—BWSW 15, Washington 0; BVSW 5, Lansing 3
Quarterfinal—Eisenhower (18-10), 5:45 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—CF Max Flowers; 3B/P Brody Shinkle; C Ryan Spech; RF/P Luke Hanahan; SS Brayden Shannon; 2B Drew Pittman; P Carter Nelson; P Brock Bailey; P Josh Tingey
NOTES—Southwest has been consistent contender in Class 5A, winning three state titles since 2015. … In addition to 2015 title, Timberwolves also won state back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. … Southwest is making eighth state trip overall since school opened in 2010 and also took second in 2014. … Timberwolves missed out on state appearance last year. … Timberwolves went 3-0 at the Branson (Mo.) Invitational and 3-0 at the De Soto/Gardner Spring Classic. … Southwest has wins over state qualifiers Tonganoxie and Shawnee Heights. … Two losses came to 6A qualifier Blue Valley and 5A qualifier St. Thomas Aquinas. … Specht lead team with .435 average,. … He also drove in team high 33 runs. … Eight starters hit better than .300 with the Wolves hitting .337 as a team. … Hanahan led the team in all extra-base hit categories with 8 doubles, 5 triples and 4 home runs. … Shinkle led the team in runs scored with 34 and walks with 20. … As a team, Southwest stole 134 bases with Flowers leading the team with 32. … Hanahan has a 5-0 mark and 1.34 ERA over 36.2 IP. … Nelson is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA over 36.2 IP, and Bailey is 5-0 with a 0.86 ERA over 32.2 IP. . … The team was led out of the bullpen by Shinkle with a 0.00 ERA. … Southwest had 7 impactful sophomores and 2 impactful freshman during the 2025 season.
6 GODDARD EISENHOWER (18-10)
Coach Mike Warren
Regional —GE 4, Hutchinson 2; GE 2, Wichita Carroll 0
Quarterfinal—Blue Valley Southwest (21-6), 5:45 p.m. Thursday
Key Players—CF Carter Pabst; SS Jared Cobb; P Cole Adam
NOTES—For second straight year, Tigers upset a 5A powerhouse to claim state berth, knocking off Bishop Carroll in this year’s regional title game after ending Seaman’s 19-year state run last spring. … Tigers have made four straight state appearances and finished program-best fourth in 2023. … Eisenhower won Ark Valley Chisholm Trail II League title with 10-2 league record and was .500 in non-league games. … League title was third in the past four years. … Pabst is hitting .446 and has 27 stolen bases after being a Top 11 All-State football selection as a record-breaking wide receiver in the fall. … Cobb is hitting .370 with 22 runs scored. … Adams is 5-1 with a 1.18 ERA.
