Kansas 5A baseball state quarterfinals: Blue Valley Southwest, BV West advance

Once Miller Hogan got a lead, Bishop Carroll was rendered essentially hopeless.

Hogan, a Blue Valley Southwest senior right-hander who has signed to play baseball at St. Louis, boasts a 0.00 ERA, meaning even the slimmest lead is safe with him.

Hogan had a lead before he threw a pitch in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Thursday morning, and he maintained his perfection with an 87-pitch shutout in BV Southwest’s 7-0 win at Eck Stadium.

Hogan allowed one hit and struck out nine with one walk.

“It’s crazy how much different it changes the game,” Hogan said of pitching with the lead. “When I can just go out there and not worry about giving up a couple of runners, it calms the whole team down.”

BV Southwest scored one in the first inning and tallied six unearned runs in the second thanks to two Carroll errors. Carroll pitchers walked eight and two Golden Eagles runners were thrown out on the bases.

Blue Valley West 4, Shawnee Heights 3

BV West scored three runs in the first and held off Shawnee Heights for a quarterfinal victory. Tyler Barnes drove in two with a first-inning double, and his single started BV West’s run-scoring fourth inning.

Barnes came home in the fourth on Ross Cappo’s RBI single. That was a crucial run for BV West because Shawnee Heights scored two in the sixth to make it 4-3. After a one-out double, Shawnee Heights’ Jesse Perez was stranded at second as the potential tying run.

“It is key in regional and state games to take the lead early, because it makes (opponents) panic a little bit,” BV West coach Bill McDonald said.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Kansas 5A baseball state quarterfinals: Blue Valley Southwest, BV West advance."