KU-bound ace with MLB bloodlines has Mulvane baseball chasing state title
In a past life, Dave Sanders was used to standing on major-league mounds, staring down some of the game’s best hitters.
He never felt as helpless there as he sometimes does now, sitting in the stands and watching his son pitch for the Mulvane baseball team.
The nerves hit differently when the ball is in Grey Sanders’ right hand. Dave can see the adjustment coming before his son makes it. He can spot the minor mechanical flaw, the pitch-shape issue, the moment when Grey might need to slow the game down. But once the inning starts, the former Chicago White Sox pitcher is just another parent in the bleachers, riding every pitch with everyone else.
“I never had the emotions that I have in the stands as a parent whenever I was a player,” Dave said. “I think I’m more nervous because it’s not in my control. But it is so much more rewarding to see him succeed than the way I felt as a player.”
That is what made Monday’s Class 4A quarterfinal feel so gripping for the Sanders family and for Mulvane.
The Wildcats had the pitcher they wanted on the mound. They had a Kansas signee with a 97 mph fastball and a microscopic ERA. But even Grey Sanders could not carry Mulvane all the way to the finish line by himself.
Not after reaching the 105-pitch limit.
So with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, two Bishop Miege runners on base and the season hanging in the balance, Sanders had to walk off the mound after 7 2/3 scoreless innings and trust his teammates to finish what he started.
They did.
Hagen Warkins escaped the jam, Brody Clasen delivered the walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth and top-seeded Mulvane, now 26-1, advanced to face AV-CTL rival McPherson at 11 a.m. Thursday at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan with a spot in the state championship game on the line.
For a pitcher with video-game numbers, that might have been the most fitting part of the night. Sanders has spent all spring overpowering hitters. But he has spent just as much time insisting Mulvane’s dream season is not about him.
“I’m nothing without my defense, I’m nothing without my hitters,” Grey said. “I could throw a no-hitter, but it doesn’t matter if we don’t score runs. God made us all equally in different ways, so in no way, shape or form am I better than anyone else on the team.”
The numbers make it difficult not to start with him.
Sanders is 8-0 this season with one earned run allowed in 48 innings, good for a 0.15 ERA. He has struck out 96 batters, meaning two-thirds of the outs he has recorded have come by strikeout. He has allowed just 15 hits all season and seven of them came Monday against Bishop Miege.
Earlier this spring, he threw a complete-game no-hitter against McPherson and struck out 17.
His career resume is just as ridiculous: a 1.16 ERA with 265 strikeouts in more than 138 innings. He now owns Mulvane program records for most wins in a season, most wins in a career, lowest ERA in a season, lowest ERA in a career and most career strikeouts.
Mulvane coach Steve Nelson understands what a luxury that is.
“I have to admit,” Nelson said, “it’s pretty fun to write his name in.”
Sanders’ fastball usually sits 94-95 mph and has touched 97 this season. At the high school level, that alone would be enough to dominate most lineups.
But Nelson said the growth that has made Sanders special goes beyond velocity. He has become more than a hard thrower.
“He can throw the fastball by just about anybody, so he tries to work on his curveballs and his sliders and changeups,” Nelson said. “He has just been so good this year. He just understands how to pitch.”
The work behind that evolution has been just as impressive to Mulvane’s coaches.
Nelson said Sanders transformed his body over his four-year career with a level of discipline uncommon for a high school athlete. He is serious about lifting. Serious about arm care. Serious about sleep and nutrition. Serious about the quiet routines that turn a gifted arm into a reliable ace.
“He is so regimented and so meticulous about the way he does things,” Nelson said. “It’s impressive.”
Dave has seen the same thing away from the field.
There have been family vacations when Grey’s first question has not been about the beach, the hotel or the restaurant. It has been about the nearest gym.
That drive did not come from pressure at home. In fact, Dave made a conscious effort to make sure baseball never felt forced on his son.
Dave knew what the sport demanded. He knew the intensity. He knew how hard the game could become if a player did not truly love it. So while he hoped baseball might become Grey’s passion, he did not want his son to feel like he had to follow him.
“As I got older, I realized if you didn’t have a passion for it, it was way too intense to not be passionate about it,” Dave said. “I didn’t want my kids to feel like they were pursuing something that they weren’t passionate about. Of course, there was definitely an internal part of me that was really hoping baseball would be his passion. But hopefully I never made that clear.”
That is why Grey says he never felt burdened by his father’s major-league background.
He did not grow up trying to escape a shadow. He grew up with a resource.
Dave is now a pitching instructor at D3 Training in Derby and Grey has spent his baseball life learning from someone who understands mechanics, pitch design, sequencing and the mental side of the position. The lessons are still available in the middle of games.
If something feels off, Grey can walk behind the dugout between innings and talk with his father in the stands. More often than not, Dave already knows what is coming.
“He will see it before me,” Grey said. “It’s such a huge advantage to have him there watching me. He’s watched me grow up as a pitcher, so he knows my moves, my mindset. He understands it all, so that’s pretty awesome.”
The one number they still joke about is 98.
The hardest Dave ever threw was 97 mph. Grey has matched that several times this spring, but he has not quite passed him yet.
“I’m just waiting on the day that I get to 98,” Grey said with a laugh. “But my dad is my biggest cheerleader. He wants me to hit 98 more than anybody else.”
Dave insists there is no rivalry there.
“I’m competitive, but not against him,” Dave said with a laugh. “I’m sure he’s going to be passing me very soon, and I hope that’s the case. I’m happy to hand the belt over.”
That father-son thread gives Sanders’ senior season a deeper meaning, but it does not fully explain why Mulvane is two wins from a state championship.
The Wildcats are not a one-man team.
Mulvane is loaded with pitching talent outside of Sanders: Warkins is 7-1 with a 1.56 ERA; Parker Clubb, a Louisville signee, is 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA; Clasen is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA. As a staff, Mulvane has piled up 275 strikeouts in 151 innings.
The lineup has given the Wildcats just as much firepower. Clubb is hitting .456 with a .661 on-base percentage, five home runs and a team-high 46 RBIs. Warkins is hitting .451 with 42 RBIs. Grady Myers is hitting .441 with 35 runs. Hays Ensley is hitting .441 with 38 RBIs and 50 runs. Manny Myers is batting .390 with 45 runs. Reed Hackleman is hitting .346 with 24 RBIs, while Clasen is hitting .316 with 27 RBIs.
“The amount of talent on this team is insane,” Grey said. “Every single time I go out there, I know if I give up a run or two, we are getting it back. It’s an easy way to have a lot of fun on the baseball field, even when things aren’t going your way, whenever your team is this good.”
That belief was tested Monday.
Mulvane threatened several times against Bishop Miege but kept stranding runners. Sanders kept the game scoreless, but Miege put together back-to-back singles with two outs in the eighth. The pitch count forced Sanders out, then the Stags nearly broke through when a line drive down the left-field line was ruled just foul.
Warkins responded by getting the pop-up that ended the threat.
Then Mulvane finally found its swing.
Clubb drew a four-pitch walk, then Hackleman followed with another walk with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. That brought up Clasen, who turned on an inside pitch and sent it through the right side of the infield. Clubb raced home for the winning run and the Wildcats poured out of the dugout with their season still alive.
It was a release for a team still carrying the sting of last year’s first-round upset at state.
This week, Mulvane has already secured its first top-four finish since 2019. The Wildcats want more. They are trying to become just the second baseball team in school history to win a state championship, joining the 1986 team that won the 4-1A title.
To get there, they will have to go through the only team that has beaten them this season.
McPherson handed Mulvane its lone loss, 3-2, in the first game of an April 17 doubleheader. Sanders answered later that day with his no-hitter. Now the rivals will meet again on a bigger stage.
For Grey, that stage arrives at the end of a senior season he has dreamed about but never assumed would unfold like this. He has signed with Kansas. He has built one of the most dominant pitching resumes in Kansas high school baseball. He has done it with his father watching from the stands and his teammates giving him a team worth trusting.
“It is a little bit of a dream,” Grey said of his senior season.
Dave is trying to savor it the same way.
Before his son heads off to college baseball, before the next level raises the demands again, there is still this final week in a Mulvane uniform. Still one more state tournament. Still one more chance for father, son and team to chase something together.
“There’s so much pressure for a senior to perform, so this season really has been a dream come true,” Dave said. “To see your son excel in his last opportunity to play high school baseball is a really fun thing to watch as a parent.”
Grey may be the ace with the fastball, the records and the famous baseball bloodline.
But the reason Mulvane is still playing is the same reason he had no panic when he handed the ball away Monday.
He believes in everyone around him.
This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 1:22 PM with the headline "KU-bound ace with MLB bloodlines has Mulvane baseball chasing state title."
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