By Fred Solis
WICHITA—After his team, the Hutchinson Monarchs, beat the Lonestar Kraken 21-4 to win the 2025 NBC World Series last Saturday in Wichita, Andale High School alum Drew Bugner crowned the triumph with a jewel of his own: the tournament’s Most RBIs trophy.
“I didn’t know I was going to get the award; it was shocking,” Bugner, a 2022 Andale graduate, said. “I saw the ball well and had a lot of confidence knowing we had won a championship before [two years ago], so I came ready to play.
“A lot of the credit goes to Jake [Gutierrez], because he was on base for me every time,” Bugner continued. “He was MVP of the tournament. If he hadn’t been on base, I couldn’t have gotten the award. I drove him in all the time.”
Gutierrez, Monarch’s outfielder and leadoff batter, scored 11 runs, had 16 hits and 10 RBIs while playing superbly in the outfield.
The entire Monarchs team was ready to play as they put their proverbial collective foot on the Kraken’s throat with a 17-0 lead through five innings. In all, the Monarchs’ offense pounded out 17 hits in the championship game, while giving up just five, the first for the Kraken coming in the bottom of the fifth inning, when they scored two runs.
If the Monarchs were ready to play, the Kraken were on fumes. The night before, in the semifinal game against the Hays Larks, Lonestar had to go 11 innings and burned through their pitching staff for the 9-8 victory.
“I watched them the night before,” Bugner said. “They went through six pitchers. We knew they were running out of guys. That built our confidence up. We knew they were going to be tired, and seeing their low numbers helped us stay confident.”
After quiet sixth and seventh innings, the Monarchs tacked on four more runs in the eighth for their scoring total for the night. The Kraken added two runs in the eighth.
Pryce Bender started for the Monarchs and pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up just three hits, two earned runs and two walks while fanning three batters. He exited the game with a 17-2 lead.
Daegan Vinduska worked the next 1 2/3 innings and yielded two walks before giving way to Ayden Benson for one inning. Benson gave up two hits and two runs and fanned one batter. Kyle Holzer pitched the last inning and walked one batter and struck out one.
The Monarchs were 6-1 in the NBC Tournament. Their only loss was to the Seattle Studs, 9-5, in pool play, which also included the San Diego Stars and the Dodge City A’s. The Monarchs avenged their loss to the Studs in the semifinal, however, with a 3-2 victory. Overall, the Monarchs were 33-8 on the season.
Batting in the 2-hole, Bugner, short stop, drove in 11 runs over the course of seven tournament games. In 30 at-bats, he hit .467 and recorded 14 hits (two of them doubles and one triple), scored 10 runs, walked three times and struck five times.
Many of Bugner’s hits came with two strikes, like the walk off single to left he delivered against the Alaska Goldpanners for a 2-1 victory that landed the Monarchs in the tournament’s semifinal game.
“I usually hit middle-to-right,” Bugner said. “The pitcher was a lefty. The curve ball started out over plate and came inside. I was working all summer to pull the ball and not roll it over. I’d been working on the inside pitch.
“The prep and practice finally paid off,” he said. “I threw my hands at the ball. It would have been impossible to take that pitch the other way with how inside it was.”
Bugner’s at-bat ritual starts with a sniff of the wooden bat before he settles into the box.
“I smell the barrel, the paint smell,” he said. “The metal [of college bats] smells different than a wood bat.”
In the box, “I do a toe-tap as part of regular” preparation, Bugner said. “With two strikes, I create less movement with my legs. It takes away my power, but I put the ball in play. I get wider and a little bit deeper with my legs. I can see the ball better with my head still. It’s hard to do, but I saw the ball really well,” he said.
Last year, Bugner led the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) in batting average at .407 while hitting in the 3-hole. He was also First Team in Double AA. He played baseball at Pratt Community College for two years, one at Pittsburg State University, and will play at Wichita State University next year.
“He found a new batting stance at Pittsburg,” Monarchs coach Casey Lippoldt said. “He focused on going to the right side. He let the ball go deep; he didn’t panic. He had the right approach. He squared the ball up. The right side was his bread and butter. It made it difficult to get him out.”
Bugner also credits his older brother, Tyler, who played for the Colorado Rockies for three years, with improving his game. Tyler was centerfield in college and played left and right at the professional level.
“He’s been the biggest influence on my swing,” Drew said. “He’s been my lifelong coach. Everything I knew came from him. When he played pro ball, he learned things and passed it down to me.
“We have a batting cage, and my dad [Ed] will throw to me, and my brother will critique me. He’s been a tremendous help,” Drew said.
“He called me before the game and asked me what I was thinking going into it,” he continued. “He told me to stay calm and hit the ball hard and not think about where I was going to hit in on the field […] little hints to help me keep calmed down. There can be no room for extra thought.”
Lippoldt recognizes Bugner’s drive and the role his upbringing has had on his approach to the game.
“He’s a natural leader,” Lippoldt said. “It starts at home. You can tell how he was raised. He works every day. He’s always working on something. He’s constantly grinding—at the gym in the cages.
“It’s not in his DNA to give up. Others on the team see him, and he’s a natural leader. He’s very respectful and a very good human being, and that starts at home. He puts in the work, and now he’s reaping the benefits of it. I love to see it,” Lippoldt said.
Starting at a junior college kept Bugner hungry and helped fuel his drive, Lippoldt said.
“His dream school was WSU. He went from Pratt to Pitt State, which opened up the doors to go to WSU, his dream school,” Lippoldt said.
Four other Monarchs are headed for WSU next year, Lippoldt said, Gutierrez, outfielder Jaden Gustafson and pitchers Benson and Mitchell Johnson.
Gustafson was named the championship game’s Player of the Game, and Bradyn McClure was honored with the Most Outstanding Pitcher award.
Gustafson scored three runs and knocked in five on 3-of-5 hitting, all doubles. McClure, the only pitcher in the tournament to start two games and get two wins, held Dodge City to one run while fanning seven through six innings.
Against the Seattle Studs in the semifinal, he worked 6 2/3 innings and gave up five hits, one earned run and struck out nine batters. His line total for the tournament was 12 2/3 innings, with two wins, six hits, one walk and 16 strikeouts. His tournament ERA was .71.
“It was impressive,” Lippoldt said of the Monarchs’ performance in the title game. “I thought we could get it done but never thought we’d have 21 runs. They came out ready to swing. They did that throughout the summer. When we get clicking, it’s hard to stop us. My shoulder got a little sore waving everybody in, but it’s a good problem to have,” he joked.
Lippoldt, who just completed his third year as the Monarchs head coach, was also an assistant two years previously and played on the 2009 and 2010 teams. This is his second championship as the Monarchs head coach.
“We had everything in this tourney—run rules, one-run games, a walk off,” Lippoldt said. “All of our starters did really well,” he said of the 2025 Monarchs. “Going five to six solid innings makes it easier on the bullpen. I didn’t have to use a lot of pitching. We were fresh on the back end of the tournament, not like Kraken.
“It was a fantastic group to have. The chemistry made it easy to go to the ball park. They said, ‘We’re here to play baseball, and we’re going to give it our all.’ Top of roster to the bottom was a good year. They set a new standard of what to expect, and so far, so good. I’m proud of every single one of them.”
Thanks to the Monarchs and other Kansas teams in the NBC World Series the past few years, “people are starting to believe that Jayhawk [Collegiate League] baseball in the summer is one to see,” Lippoldt said.
“Baseball in Kansas is definitely nothing to look past. Kansas isn’t a destination spot like the Northeast, but we had scouts looking at our games, too,” he said.
While the NBC World Series Championship was this year’s goal for Bugner and the Monarchs, he has higher aspirations.
“My ultimate baseball goal is to play professionally,” he said. “I want to stay in the game as long as I can, until my body gives up. It’s my favorite sport. If I could do it for my life, I would do it.
“I started club baseball, T-ball,” he continued. “I was always practicing. I was always at baseball games, because my older brother played. I’ve always been around it. I had a bat in my hands since I was 2 years old.”
Whatever level he’s at, Bugner said he always plays to thank his parents, Ed and Melanie, who “put me through baseball at such a young age. It was part of a plan: create some success for college. I’ve had a great experience and a lot of fun with it. I definitely play for them.”