Haviland’s no-hit bid sends Humboldt to state

HUMBOLDT — In front of a packed home crowd, Humboldt High’s baseball team clinched their spot at the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament on Wednesday night.
In weather fit for a spring training baseball game rather than late May, Humboldt’s Jake Haviland tossed an efficient no-hitter in the championship game against Jayhawk-Linn. Needing just 42 pitches through five innings of work, Haviland and teammates cruised to a 10-0 run-ruled shortened win.
“No hits and only 42 pitches, that’s pretty impressive. He was attacking hitters,” coach Mike Miller said. “They’ve got some good batters up and down their lineup. He just had great stuff, good movement. He hit his spots and he was lights out. We played good defense behind him, too. Hats off to our defense. Error-free baseball, you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Haviland’s final line included just one walk and three strikeouts. For his pitch count, 27 of the 42 landed in the strike zone.
After a scoreless first inning, the game opened up in the second. With one out, Tanner Orth reached base on a walk and Rayce Hoepker followed with a base hit. Zach Vanatta then hit into a fielder’s choice up the middle to the shortstop, who tagged second base for one out. The shortstop’s throw, however, wasn’t on point, which let a runner score and left Vanatta safe at first. Runners were on first and third with two outs.
Jacob Carpenter then came up with potentially the biggest hit of the game. He laced a double into the outfield that scored both runs, giving the Cubs a three-run cushion.
“That was a huge two-out hit right there. We scored two runs on that,” Miller said. “[Carpenter] had been struggling and he came through for us big time right there. That really gave us a lot of confidence and got the momentum going to our side.”
Humboldt’s offense started clicking again in the fourth inning. Kason Siemens hit an RBI-double. Carpenter and Haviland each added RBI-singles and gave the Cubs a 6-0 lead.
After Corey Whitcomb walked and Tyler Korte hit a single, Orth came through with an RBI-single. Hoepker followed with an RBI-single. Two more runs and Humboldt would win. It just so happened that the Cubs had runners on first and second.
Vanatta came up to the plate with every intention of laying down a sacrifice bunt to move each runner into scoring position. Instead, he helped win the game. He laid down a bunt in-between third base and the pitcher. Jayhawk-Linn’s first baseman charged with contact and the second baseman didn’t cover. The pitcher fielded the ball and, thinking the first baseman was covering, tossed the ball to no one. Both runners came around to score.
Frenzy ensued.
“Last year, we had a lot of pressure on us. This year, we kind of played the underdog role, you could say,” Miller said. “We might not have had as much talent as last year, but these guys came to play today. I couldn’t be more happy or proud of these guys for how they played today.”

TO GET TO the championship game, Humboldt beat Neodesha 10-2 earlier in the afternoon. Humboldt scored all 10 runs in the first two innings — seven in the first and three in the second.
The game went a full seven innings thanks to Neodesha scoring two runs in the fifth to avoid being run-ruled.
Whitcomb had two singles and two RBIs. Korte had a double and two RBIs. Vanatta had two doubles and an RBI. Orth, Hoepker and Carpenter each hit a single and had an RBI. Rhett Smith hit a single.
On the mound, Siemens pitched six innings to get the win. He gave up two earned runs, four hits, three walks and struck out one. Rayce Hoepker pitched the seventh in nine pitches and had one strikeout.
As for the pitching, that was one of the bigger question marks heading into the season. The Cubs lost their top three pitchers from a season ago.
“We rode Kason and Jake all season long, but our relief pitchers really came a long way, too,” Miller said. “They pitched some big innings for us. Kason and Jake, I expected them to carry us. I don’t know if I expected them to be as good as what they’ve been, but they carried us for sure.”
Now the team will turn its attention toward the state tournament next week.
“You’re always glad to get there, but now our focus is on going out there to try and win the whole thing,” Miller said. “This was one our goals this year — to win the [regional] tournament. We’re there now, so let’s go see what we can do.” 
Humboldt plays Thursday at Manhattan in the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament.