MANHATTAN — Humboldt High was hoping to repeat some late-inning magic Friday.
On Thursday, the Cubs rallied from a 3-1 deficit for a 10-3 state quarterfinal win over Russell-Victoria.
But on Friday, things went south when the Cubs found themselves in an identical situation in semifinal action against Trinity Academy of Wichita.
This time, the Knights, leading 3-1 after four innings, put Humboldt further in arrears with a two-out rally in the fifth. Humboldt struggled against the Knights’ pitching in the 5-2 defeat.
With the loss, Humboldt (24-5) was relegated to Friday’s third-place game against Sabetha.
Trinity advanced to face Hesston in the state title game. Results from the latter two games were unavailable by press time.
HUMBOLDT starter Kyler Isbell — who starred at the plate and on the mound Thursday, ran into some early trouble when summoned to pitch against Trinity Academy.
The Knights’ first three batters reached base on a pair of singles. A two-run triple from Camdon Kilgore put the Cubs in a 2-0 hole in the top of the first.
Trinity pushed the lead to 3-0 in the top of the third without hitting the ball out of the infield, with an infield single, a walk, sacrifice bunt and RBI grounder from Matthew Bolt.
The Cubs got a run back in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of a leadoff error and a one-out walk. Colden Cook lined a 2-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single to put Humboldt on the board.
But Trinity responded with two more in the top of the fifth on a two-out, two-run RBI single from Nolan Willson.
Humboldt’s Logan Page drove in Mason Sterling with a two-out double in the bottom of the sixth for Humboldt’s second run.
Isbell scattered eight hits over five innings with five strikeouts.
Brody Gunderman tossed two scoreless innings of relief.
Page had Humboldt’s only extra-base hit, a double. Cook and Isbell added singles.
Trinity’s Josiah Sems earned the win, allowing three hits over six innings with eight strikeouts. Bryton Baty pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to close out the game.
