Blue Valley beats Gardner Edgerton in state-baseball slugfest for Kansas 6A crown

Blue Valley’s baseball team has climbed that mountain yet again.

The Tigers laid claim to their seventh state title, their sixth in Kansas Class 6A, with a 4-3 victory Saturday evening over Gardner Edgerton at the LaRoche Baseball Complex in Fort Scott.

Blue Valley finishes 23-2 and in possession of its first state title since 2018. The Tigers’ other state championships include 6A titles in 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2017 and a 5A trophy in 1992.

Locking down this one made for a Division I talent-laden street fight between 22-win clubs.

Gardner Edgerton (22-3) scored two in the second inning, the first driven in by Tyler Butash and the second on a sac fly from Carson Schrack. But Blue Valley’s Jackson Nicklaus drove in runs that tied it at 2 in the bottom of the frame with a two-out double

The Blazers pulled ahead again in the fourth, 3-2, on a sac fly from Butash, but BV’s Drew Sale drove in a run with a single to left. So it was tied again in the fifth.

In the sixth, BV senior Drew Jans drove in what would stand as the winning run with a two-out RBI single. The Blazers had men on first and second in the seventh and final inning but left them stranded to end the game.

With Blue Valley’s title victory Saturday night, the Eastern Kansas League swept the Class 6A, 5A (Blue Valley Southwest) and 4A (Bishop Miege) championships this weekend.

Blue Valley and Gardner Edgerton made it to the final on the strength of big innings in their respective semifinals earlier Saturday afternoon.

Blue Valley plated 11 runs in the third inning against Manhattan, winning 15-0 via the run rule. Gardner Edgerton, meanwhile, rallied for five runs in the fifth inning to dispatch Derby 6-4 and set the stage for Saturday night’s finish.

This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 2:50 PM.