Gehrer family continues tradition to lead Wichita Collegiate back to state baseball
Two decades have passed since the Wichita Collegiate baseball team last won a game at the state tournament.
Mike Gehrer was the coach back then and his son, Joe, was a high school senior on the 2022 team that reached the state championship game and nearly won a third straight state title for the program.
Fast forward 20 years later and now Joe Gehrer is the head baseball coach with his father as his assistant and Collegiate enters the Class 3A state tournament as the No. 1 seed with a 20-1 record. The Spartans play Goodland (10-11) at 11 a.m. Thursday in the opening round of the state tournament at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan.
“It’s been an awful lot of fun to show up at the stadium every day and see (Mike Gehrer’s) name on it and know I’m doing whatever I can to continue that legacy,” Joe Gehrer said. “It’s just an extremely special thing to be at the same school and work with him every day. A lot of people don’t get that chance to have this much time with their father and have so many things in common that we get to share. It’s just a blessing.”
After stepping down as the Collegiate baseball coach in 2005, Mike decided to come back in an assistant role in 2012 a year after Joe was promoted to head coach.
He has cherished every spring working with his son.
“It’s so rewarding to see him become a head coach and do things his own way,” Mike said. “I guess I’m the old-school coach now and some of the things that he does are new for me, so I’ve had to get on my horse and try to keep up.”
While Joe has brought more of a new-age, analytical approach to the job, his coaching style is rooted in the fundamentals he learned from his father. After all, he’s the only baseball coach he ever played for.
“Everything I know has come from him,” Joe said. “Of course there are certain things we differ on, but I’ve been on those teams that won and I know what it takes to be successful.”
Joe jokes that perhaps his favorite part of the job is having the authority to reign in his father, who doesn’t lack for competitive spirit from his days as a head football coach and leading the Collegiate baseball team to four state championships from 1994-2001.
“It’s hard for him to take off the head coaching hat, which is a great thing most of the time,” Joe said. “But he’s definitely not afraid to come off the bench and let the umpires have it a little bit. There are a few umpires who know him a lot better than they know me. I have to remind him sometimes that if he’s the one yelling, then I’m the one getting ejected so tone it down.”
There haven’t been too many arguments needed this season, as Collegiate returned all nine of its starters from a team that reached the state tournament last season.
The team has been led by three seniors in Ashtun Villagomez (.448 average, 23 RBI), Drew Charbonneau (.327 average) and Evan Eichenauer (.446 average, 21 RBI), while juniors Hayden Malaise, Brady Hunt (.431 average, 23 RBI, three home runs), Brett Black (.393 average, 27 RBI, three home runs), Landon Ramsey and sophomores Brett Wetta (.464 average) and Jace Campbell (.371 average) are all back as well.
Malaise in particular has elevated his game this season, becoming a dominant pitcher on the mound with a 9-0 record, 0.60 earned run average and 87 strikeouts in 46-plus innings, while hitting .404 at the plate with 22 runs, a team-high 27 RBI and a team-high four home runs. In Collegiate’s 11-0 win over Wichita Trinity in the regional championship game last week, Malaise struck out 14 batters in a shutout and hit two home runs in the same game.
The team has been motivated to return to state and advance to the second day since losing 11-0 to Minneapolis in the first round last season.
“We were kind of ahead of schedule last year getting to state and then we got the doors blown off us,” Joe Gehrer said. “So we know what state feels like and we’ve experienced that pain. And we know how much better we are this year and how much everyone has grown. We’ve played some really good baseball teams this year and done very well, so we know we can compete at this level.”
Mike has seen his fair share of great baseball teams over the years and he says the 2022 Collegiate team rivals some of those state championship teams he had back when he was coaching.
“There’s no question about it that this group is just extremely special,” Mike said. “Most of those teams I had, we had four or five great kids, but then you were hoping to just make it back to the top of the lineup. This group one through nine is just incredible. This is a special, special group.”
Kansas high school state baseball tournament schedule
Class 6A (at LaRoche Baseball Complex in Fort Scott)
Opening round games have been postponed until Friday due to inclement weather.
Class 5A (at Eck Stadium in Wichita)
No. 1 Topeka Seaman (20-2) vs. No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas (13-9), 11 a.m. Thursday
No. 4 Blue Valley Southwest (16-6) vs. No. 5 De Soto (16-6), 1:15 p.m.
No. 2 Bishop Carroll (18-4) vs. No. 7 Shawnee Heights (13-9), 3:30
No. 3 Goddard Eisenhower (16-5) vs. No. 6 Valley Center (16-6), 5:45
Class 4A (at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina)
No. 1 McPherson (20-2) vs. No. 8 El Dorado (10-12), 11 a.m. Thursday
No. 4 Iola (16-4) vs. No. 5 Ottawa (15-6), 1:15 p.m.
No. 2 Tonganoxie (18-3) vs. No. 7 Abilene (13-8), 3:30
No. 3 Clay Center (16-4) vs. No. 6 Paola (14-7), 5:45
Class 3A (at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan)
No. 1 Wichita Collegiate (20-1) vs. No. 8 Goodland (10-11), 11 a.m. Thursday
No. 4 Girard (20-3) vs. No. 5 Thomas More Prep (14-5), 1:15 p.m.
No. 2 Bishop Ward (21-2) vs. No. 7 Halstead (15-8), 3:30
No. 3 Columbus (20-2) vs. No. 6 Sabetha (15-7), 5:45
Class 2-1A (at Great Bend Sports Complex)
No. 1 Colony-Crest (23-0) vs. No. 8 Pittsburg-Colgan (9-12), 11 a.m. Thursday
No. 4 Elkhart (19-4) vs. No. 5 Little River (18-5), 1:15 p.m.
No. 2 Mission Valley (20-1) vs. No. 7 Remington (15-8), 3:30 p.m.
No. 3 Valley Falls (19-3) vs. No. 6 West Elk (17-6), 5:45 p.m.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 6:15 AM.
.jpg)