MANHATTAN — Advancing to the final day of baseball in Kansas, the Humboldt Cubs finished in fourth place at the KSHSAA 3A Baseball State Championships on Friday.
Humboldt beat Russell-Victoria, 10-3, on Thursday to advance to the semifinals. The Cubs then lost to eventual state champion Trinity Academy, 5-2, and then Sabetha, 2-1, in the third place game.
“I’m super proud of the way we competed,” Humboldt head coach Mike Miller said. “We put ourselves in the right positions in every game. It just wasn’t our day. But we still competed and battled. I’m super proud of the way we played all tournament. We played clean baseball.”
Cubs rally past Russell
In Thursday’s first game, the Cubs trailed 3-1 through three-and-a-half innings before the bats came alive.
After knotting the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Humboldt posted six runs in the bottom of the fifth to break the game open.
A three-run double from Kyler Isbell shattered the levee.
“That was a big one,” Miller said. “We saw what they could do through the first few innings. We knew we’d need more runs. So we had guys come through. We strung things together. We got that separation and it was the key to bringing the game home.”
Logan Page, the Cubs’ ace, earned the win on the hill. Through five frames of work, Page struck out five and allowed six hits.
“If you don’t get through the day, the next one doesn’t matter,” Miller said. “We had faith in Kyler (Isbell) and Cole (Mathes) so that’s the thought process. We wanted Logan to get us as far as he could.”
After getting dinged early, Page started stuffing the zone with strikes.
“I was just trying to throw strikes and let our defense work,” Page said. “I wanted to be as efficient as possible. It was a tough lineup.”
“We’ve seen Logan do that a lot where he doesn’t have his best stuff, but we have faith that he’s going to figure it out,” Miller said. “He got us right where we needed to be. We made plays behind him and he did exactly what we needed him to do — not have to go deep into our bullpen.”
Mathes also had three hits and scored as many runs in the game for Humboldt. Isbell finished with four RBIs on two hits while also throwing two innings with a strikeout.
Max Evans of Russell-Victoria ate the loss, allowing four hits and seven earned runs over four innings.
Sam Thielen and Evans each had two hits for Russell.
Trinity ends Humboldt’s title pursuit
In the Class 3A semifinals on Friday, Trinity never trailed after scoring two runs in the top of the first.
Trinity pitcher Josiah Sems delivered a gem on the mound, striking out eight Cubs batters and allowing three hits over six innings.
“He was good. He did a good job of mixing pitches and worked his changeup in there,” Miller said. “Everytime we threatened, he made a pitch or they’d make a play to get out of it. We had chances, it just didn’t happen.”
Colden Cook and Page had RBIs and a hit in the loss for the Cubs. Humboldt was limited to three hits in the game.
For Trinity Academy, Sems and Braden Roberts had two hits and scored two runs apiece.
Isbell was charged with the loss, tossing five innings with five strikeouts and as many runs allowed.
Trinity ended up beating Hesston in the state championship later that evening while relegating Humboldt to a third place showdown with Sabetha.
“I told the guys that we had to refocus and put the loss away,” Miller said. “We were guaranteed a top-four finish in the state. We tried to reset and start new. We did. And we played well. We just fell a little short.”
Sabetha takes third in extras
In an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel, Sabetha beat Humboldt in extra innings, 2-1, in the third place game.
Mathes pitched 6.2 innings for the Cubs, allowing four hits while striking out five.
“I love my boys and I tried to give it all I had,” Mathes said. “I did all I could do and tried to give us a chance.”
Brody Gunderman ended up eating the loss, tossing the final four outs while allowing two hits and striking out a pair.
Sabetha broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth with an RBI triple from catcher Reid Mitchell.
Humboldt responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI single from Mason Sterling.
In the eighth, an RBI single up the middle from Sabetha third baseman Jayton Meyer proved to be the winner.
The Cubs’ pitching staff showcased its depth in the state tournament. Over three games, Humboldt’s arms allowed 10 runs and kept the Cubs within striking distance.
“These guys were preparing for this for four years,” Miller said. “I believed coming in that we had enough to get us where we wanted to be. We had opportunities in every game and we still had more arms if we had to go deeper. That’s a testament to how the guys prepare.”
The loss left Humboldt with a 24-6 record to end the 2025 campaign.
“It stinks right now — this isn’t how we wanted it to end,” Miller said. “But we’ll appreciate what kind of ride this season was. It was awesome. We wanted it to end here. We proved we’ve got some of the best players in the state. Now, the young guys have some big shoes to fill.”
