Evans Shuts Down Colby, Broncos Reach First State Semifinal in a Decade
SALINA-The Russell-Victoria Broncos Baseball team scored all their runs in the first two innings and Max Evans hurled a two-hit shutout as the Broncos blanked Colby 3-0 in the Class 3A State Quarterfinals Monday afternoon at Dean Evans Stadium.
After Evans worked around a two-out walk in the top of the first inning, Russell-Victoria plated its first run in the bottom half of the frame on a lead-off bloop double to right field by Sam Thielen who came around to score on Evans' RBI triple to center field. The fourth-seeded Broncos plated two more runs in the bottom of the second on back-to-back doubles by Walker Middleton and Thielen off Colby starting pitcher Braxton Withington.
Evans worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the third and stranded a runner at third base after a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth. From there, Evans retired nine of the last 10 hitters he faced to pick up his third shutout of the postseason. Evans notched 11 strikeouts and gave up just two singles in the third inning, one of them an infield hit. In three postseason games Evans has given up just three hits and recorded 33 strikeouts.
Withington, in a losing cause, held the Broncos to just one hit in their last four at bats to keep the Eagles in the game but Russell-Victoria was able to record their fourth win over number five seed Colby (22-6) in the last two seasons, with two of the victories taking place in postseason play.
Russell-Victoria (23-5) picked up its first win at the State Tournament since 2016 when they defeated Goodland on their way to a third place finish. The Broncos, who also finished third at State in 2014, will face Silver Lake on Wednesday, May 27 at 3:30 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan. The eighth-seeded Eagles stunned top seed Council Grove with a 1-0 victory earlier Monday in Emporia. Another upset took place in the Quarterfinals on Monday in Overland Park when number seven seed Girard defeated second seed Jefferson West 6-1. Girard will face number three see Burlington which defeated sixth-seed Frontenac on Monday, 5-3 in Wednesday's other Class 3A Semifinal.
The remainder of the Class 4A, 3A and 2-1A State Tournaments were originally slated for Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, but the NCAA awarded the Big 12 champion KU Baseball team a regional which will start on Friday, May 29 thus resulting in the move 85 miles to the west.
Wednesday's State Semifinal will be broadcast live on KRSL 95.9 FM, online at KRSL.com and streamed on Alexa devices.