Yuma High School’s baseball team hopes to have another historic Saturday this week.
The Outlaws are set to host a 2A regional this weekend (https://chsaanow.com/news/2025/5/14/class-2a-baseball-regional-tournament-brackets-2025.aspx), following the conclusion of the regular season this past Tuesday against Byers. They swept past the Bulldogs in a pair of 10-run wins, after sweeping Burlington last Saturday in a defensive double dip.
Yuma, 16-6, finished the regular season No. 5 in the 2A CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index, putting the Outlaws in line to host a regional for the first time since 2A baseball went to the format of the top eight seeds hosting four-team regionals.
The regional pairings were released Wednesday morning. Yuma will host 28-seed Olathe, 12-seed Monte Vista and 21-seed Swink on Saturday.
The Outlaws will play the first game against Olathe at 10 a.m. followed by Monte Vista-Swink at 12:30 p.m. The winners will meet in the regional final at 3 p.m.
The survivor advances to the 2A double-elimination state tournament that begins next Friday.
“I really like the way our guys stay in a fight,” coach Brady Nighswonger said, “we’re gonna need to do that moving forward if we want to make a deep playoff fun.”
The Outlaws entered last Saturday’s home doubleheader against Burlington on the heels of heartbreaking losses to Bennett and Highland.
However, they righted the ship on a beautiful day. Yuma baseball alumni held a ceremony prior to the twin bill honoring Nighswonger for his 20th season as the head coach, and Kyle Sprouse for 26 years as an assistant coach.
The Outlaws then went out and made their own history, sweeping Burlington by identical 2-0 scores. It is likely the first time Yuma baseball has held an opponent scoreless over all 14 innings of a doubleheader, and it is almost certainly the first time getting a 2-0, 2-0 sweep.
Yuma had only four hits on the day, but came away with the important two-game sweep.
Pitching and defense obviously carried the day. The Outlaws committed just three errors.
Freshman Brodie Kallweit got the complete-game shutout in Game One, scattering three hits over seven innings while striking out 11 and issuing zero walks.
Yuma won the opener despite managing just one hit. It came in the fourth when Lennox Huwa led off with a bunt single. He stole second and third. Reyli Trejo drew a walk with two outs. He then got into an intentional rundown between first and second, keeping the pickle going long enough for Huwa to score before Trejo was tagged out.
The second run came in the fifth. Chris Wario was hit by the pitch. He advanced to second on a balk by the Burlington pitcher. He then stole third and the throw from the catcher sailed into left field, allowing Wario to score.
Yuma stranded two runners in scoring position in the sixth, but the two runs was all Kallweit needed as he stayed solid to the end.
Senior Silas Baucke got the pitching win in the second game. He allowed just one hit over six innings, striking out 12 and walking five. Freshman Jose Mario Ross had two strike outs in a one-two-three seventh.
Yuma’s first run came in the third. Marvin Duarte reached first on a dropped third strike. Huwa then came through with his second double of the game to score Duarte. Yuma got an insurance run in the sixth. Alex Pensado hit a one-out double, then scored on a passed ball.
All three of Yuma’s hits were doubles, two by Huwa and the one by Pensado. Duarte and Pensado had the runs.
“Pitching and defense can win you a lot of games if it is being played at a high level and I felt we did on Saturday,” Nighswonger said. “It was obviously a very tough to hit on both sides. We did execute a little small ball to manufacture some runs, that was fun to see.”
The sweep helped push Yuma back up the Index, but the Outlaws still had two left Tuesday against a decent Byers squad.
The Outlaws definitely broke out the bats on a hot afternoon, sweeping past the Bulldogs 13-3 and 18-8.
Baucke hit a solo homer in the first inning of the opener to tie it at 1. The Outlaws then broke it open over the next three innings.
They scored five in the second. Huwa’s single scored C. Wario. Rodriguez hit a double scoring Huwa, courtesy runner Seward scored on Trejo’s double. Courtesy runner Tanner Himes scored on Pensado’s double, and Pensado scored on a bases-loaded walk.
Huwa hit a two-run homer in the third, and Baucke scored on Rodriguez’s double for a 9-1 lead.
Four more came in the fourth as Rodriguez’s single scored Huwa, Pensado drove in Baucke, Seward scored and then Pensado scored on Thomson’s single for a 13-2 lead.
Yuma pounded out 12 hits. Huwa and Baucke each had homers, Baucke also had a triple, and Pensado, Rodriguez and Trejo each hit a triple. Trejo had three hits, Huwa two, Baucke two, Rodriguez two, Pensado two and Thomson one.
Trejo went the first four innings on the hill for the pitching win. He allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits, striking out four and walking two. E. Wario went the fifth inning.
The Outlaws definitely broke out the bats on a hot afternoon, sweeping past the Bulldogs 13-3 and 18-8.
Byers kept it closer for a while in the second game, trailing 4-2, 6-4 and 6-5, and again 9-8 after the top of the third.
However, the Outlaws just kept putting the ball into play, scoring four runs in the fifth, and getting the game called in the sixth after five more runs for an 18-8 lead.
Yuma had only 11 hits to Byers’ 10. Yuma did commit five errors, but the visitors committed nine and their pitchers issued eight walks.
Baucke hit another homer among this three hits, Duarte a double among this three hits, and Huwa a double. Baucke had three RBI, Trejo three, Rodriguez two, Pensado two and Duarte two.
It was a “bullpen” game for the Outlaws pitching staff. Rodriguez came out from behind the plate to pitch two innings, Ross threw three and E. Wario finished it in the sixth. They combined for seven strike outs and four walks. Only two of Byers’ eight runs were earned, but only seven of Yuma’s 18 were earned.