Wichita native throws Hutchinson Monarchs past Foresters in NBC World Series rematch
In a rematch of last summer’s championship game, the Hutchinson Monarchs once again stunned the Santa Barbara Foresters in the National Baseball Congress World Series on Thursday.
Behind a masterful start from a Wichita native and a clutch finish by an Emporia State pitcher, the Monarchs knocked off a Division I-laden lineup for a 3-2 win at Eck Stadium to eliminate the Foresters before the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2019.
After a disappointing 1-2 finish in pool play, the Jayhawk Collegiate League champions earned a rematch against the Kansas Cannons in Friday’s semifinals.
Their dream of becoming the first local team to repeat as champions since the Wichita Broncos won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 remained alive, thanks in large part to a heroic outing from 2022 Kapaun Mt. Carmel graduate Bradyn McClure.
McClure has spent the majority of the summer playing for the Palmetto Generals in the Beach Collegiate Baseball League in Myrtle Beach. He had only pitched four total innings for the Monarchs since joining the team in July. This past season at Butler Community College, he finished with a 5-5 record in 10 starts with a 6.06 earned-run average.
But on Thursday, the sophomore right-hander from Wichita was lights out against a lineup that featured hitters who play for high-profile Division I programs like Texas, Texas Tech, Michigan, Northwestern, Santa Barbara and San Diego.
McClure spread four hits and just one walk across seven innings, allowing one earned run and turning a 2-1 lead over to the bullpen for the final six outs.
Reece Usselman eased the nerves with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth for Hutchinson, which added an insurance run in the bottom-half of the inning when Camden Johnson scored on a fielding error by Santa Barbara shortstop TJ Pompey.
That became vital in the top-half of the ninth inning when the Foresters, 10-time champions in the past two decades, made their final rally.
An error and two singles loaded the bases for Santa Barbara with one out, then Emporia State reliever Ian Lanik registered the second out on a called third strike against Jackson Freeman.
But drama ensued when the first pitch of the next at-bat was swung on and missed by Jonny Rodriguez, only for the pitch to bounce off of his foot and skid to the back wall to allow Santa Barbara to score a run and move the game-tying run to third base and the go-ahead run to second base.
Lanik handed the Foresters their first (and only) loss in Wichita with a breaking ball that fell out of the zone and left Rodriguez swinging at air.
The Wichita State duo at the top of Hutchinson’s lineup continued to excel, as Johnson had two of his team’s four hits and Jaden Gustafson drove in his seventh RBI of the tournament, which is tied for the top mark at Eck Stadium.
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