SALINA, Kan. — McPherson rallied with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday to defeat Pratt 4-3 in the Class 4A state baseball quarterfinals at Dean Evans Stadium.
The No. 4 seed Bullpups improved to 24-5 and advanced to Thursday’s state semifinals, where they will face No. 1 Mulvane at 11 a.m. at Kansas State. Mulvane improved to 26-1 with a 1-0 extra-inning win over No. 8 Bishop Miege.
Pratt, the No. 5 seed, finished 23-6.
The Greenbacks took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning when Cresten Pore delivered a two-run single that scored Caiden Smiley and Caleb Strong. McPherson got on the board in the sixth when Carter Bengtson tripled and scored on Cade Strathman’s RBI single.
Pratt extended the lead to 3-1 in the seventh after Strong scored on a passed ball, but McPherson answered in the bottom half.
Bengtson started the two-out rally with a double to right field. Brady Rinker followed with an RBI single to score Bengtson, and Cowen Huggard tied the game with an RBI double to center that brought in Rinker. After Strathman was hit by a pitch and Graham Prescott walked, Cru Buchman delivered the walk-off single to left field to score courtesy runner Carter Melton and send the Bullpups to the semifinals.
Bengtson led McPherson, going 2 for 2 with a double, triple and two runs scored. Huggard went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI, while Rinker, Strathman and Buchman each drove in a run.
Cade Strathman earned the win in relief, allowing one run on one hit with two strikeouts in one inning. Buchman started for McPherson and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Colt Chapman threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.