For the first time in school history, Pittsburg State won the MIAA baseball regular-season championship.
The No. 5 Gorillas clinched at least a tie for the title with Friday’s 16-4 victory over Washburn at Steve Anson Stadium in Topeka.
And despite Saturday afternoon’s 5-0 loss to the Ichabods, the Gorillas won the outright title when Rogers State lost at Missouri Western for the second time in their three-game series.
The Gorillas (40-8, 27-8 MIAA) reached 40 victories for the second straight year and are the top seed in this week’s conference postseason tournament in Edmond, Okla. PSU plays its first game at 1 p.m. Thursday against the lowest-advancing seed from Wednesday’s play-in games matching No. 7 Missouri Western vs. No. 10 Fort Hays State and No. 8 Washburn vs. No. 9 Central Oklahoma.
PSU 16, WU 4
Leadoff batter Jadyn McNealy and No. 9 hitter Landon Bruce each collected three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Gorillas’ 17-hit attack.
Zach Voss (10-2) became the Gorillas’ fifth pitcher to win at least 10 games in a season and the third in the last three years, joining Tanner Leslie in 2024 and Maddox Thornton in 2025. Voss yielded four runs and six hits in five innings, walked one batter and struck out one. Ryan Leiker and Cooper Crouch each pitched one scoreless inning.
Ian Luce’s two-run homer gave Washburn the lead in the first inning, but the Gorillas quickly responded with Bruce’s run-scoring double and McNealy’s two-run single for a 3-2 lead in the second.
PSU plated five runs in the third for an 8-2 lead, highlighted by RBI singles by Cooper Wesslund, Bruce and McNealy.
The Gorillas erupted for eight runs and seven hits in the sixth inning. Andrew Branson started the inning with a home run, and Bruce singled home one run, Isaac Webb hit a sacrifice fly, Nottlemann hit a two-run, opposite-field double to left, Wesslund drove in a run with a single and Seth Dandridge doubled to score the last two runs.
Dandridge, who also hit a triple earlier in the sixth, and Nottlemann both contributed two hits and two RBI. Wesslund and Branson finished with three hits, and Wesslund drove in two runs.
WU 5, PSU 0
Gavin Wilhelm and three relievers combined to blank the Gorillas on two hits.
It’s the first time the Gorillas have been shut out since an 11-0 home loss to Newman on April 23, 2023. It’s also the fewest hits for PSU since it had one hit in a 6-0 loss to Emporia State on Jan. 31, 2020.
Wilhelm (3-0) yielded one hit in 6 1/3 innings, struck out five batters and walked two.
The Gorillas’ two hits were singles by Isaac Webb in the fourth inning and Eric Bacon in the eighth.
The Ichabods grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Ty Blecha (4-2). A single, walk and hit batsman loaded the bases with one out, and Easton Wasinger’s single to center scored one run. A wild pitch allowed the second run to score before Trenton Barry hit a sacrifice fly to center for the third run.
Jack Borgmann’s solo homer with one out in the third made it 4-0, and Washburn plated its final run in the seventh on Barry’s ground-rule double.
Blecha gave up four runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings, fanned two and walked one. Bradley Neill, Jackson Murry, Ryan Leiker and Cooper Crouch also pitched; Neill fanned three in 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Murry gave up a run and two hits with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.
Pitt State 035 008 0 – 16 17 0
Washburn 200 020 0 – 4 7 3
Zach Voss, Ryan Leiker (6), Cooper Crouch (7) and Grant Nottlemann; Maclane Finley, Brian Wamsher (4), Scott Jellison (6), Max Clark (6), Kyle Snyder (7) and Brooks Richardson. W—Voss 10-2. L—Finley 5-4. 2B—PSU: Nottlemann 2, Seth Dandridge, Landon Bruce. 3B—PSU: Dandridge. HR—PSU: Andrew Branson; WU: Ian Luce, Jack Borgmann.
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Pitt State 000 000 0 – 0 2 0
Washburn 301 000 10x – 5 9 0
Ty Blecha, Bradley Neill (3), Jackson Murry (6), Ryan Leiker (7), Cooper Crouch (8) and Grant Nottlemann; Gavin Wilhelm, Griffin Huiatt (7), Blake Priest (8), Caleb Lunnon (9) and Brooks Richardson. W—Wilhelm 3-0. L—Blecha 4-2. 2B—WU: Trenton Barry. HR—WU: Jack Borgmann.
