By John Mesh
The Hutchinson Monarchs “walked it off” on a Drew Bugner RBI single against the Alaska Goldpanners 3-1 in the quarterfinals of 91st NBC World Series Thursday night at Wichita State University’s Eck Stadium-Tyler Field.
The Monarchs (31-8) moved into the NBC World Series semifinals Friday night and will play the winner of Thursday’s late night matchup between the Seattle Studs and the Derby Twins.
Ethan Giesbrecht got the start for the Hutchinson Monarchs. In the top of the first inning, he allowed one hit and no runs with two strikeouts.
On the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning, Hutchinson’s Jake Gutierrez stroked a sharp single to right field to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Hutchinson stranded runners at the corners and did not score in the bottom of the first.
Giesbrecht worked around a leadoff walk to retire the Goldpanners in the top of the second inning.
Hutchinson grounded into the three outs in the bottom of the second inning.
In the top of the third inning, Giesbrecht stranded a runner at second base, ending the top of the third inning with his fourth strikeout of the game.
Hutchinson’s Dylan Bell led off the bottom of third inning with a single, but is stranded at third base. The game is tired 0-0 going into the fourth inning.
The Goldpanners got a pair of two-out hits to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Monarchs got a pair of runners on base but grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Hutchinson catcher Keegan Demmer threw out a would-be base stealer for the final out of the top of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hutchinson’s Gutierrez got his second hit of the game but the Monarchs could not push across any runs. The Goldpanners still led 1-0.
Ayden Benson replaced Giesbrecht on the mound for the Monarchs in the top of the sixth inning. The Goldpanners were held scoreless by Benson in the frame.
Hutchinson’s Jaden Gustafson struck out in the bottom of the sixth but reached first base on a wild pitch. He later scored the game-tying run on another wild pitch. The score was toed at 1-1.
Brady Pacha rook over the mound for the Monarchs in the top of the seventh inning. He shut down the Goldpanners with a pair of called third strikes.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Gutierrez doubled for his third hit of the game, but was stranded on third base.
Hutchinson relief pitcher Kyle Holzer worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning. The Monarchs and Goldpanners are still tied 1-1.
The Monarchs put runners on second base and third base in the bottom of the eighth inning. However, Hutchinson could not come up with the big hit.
Mitchell Johnson took over on the mound for Hutchinson in the top of the ninth inning. He worked around a one-out walk. He ended the Goldpanner threat with a called third strike for the third out.
Hutchinson’s Bell was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and advanced to second base on a Gutierrez ground out. Gutierrez scored on Bugner’s RBI single.
Bugner waited until his final plate appearance to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
In other Thursday games, the San Diego Stars defeated Lonestar Baseball Club 9-7, The Derby Twins defeated the Junction City Brigade 6-4 and the Lonestar Kraken defeated the Santa Barbara Foresters 6-4.
Two other games were scheduled for Thursday night. The Seattle Studs played the Derby Twins and the Hays Larks (defending NBC World Series champions) played the San Diego Stars.
The semifinals will take place Friday at Eck Stadium.
The championship game will be played at 7 p.m. Saturday at Equity Bank Park (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in downtown Wichita.