By Jared Janzen
HALSTEAD—The Halstead baseball team punched a ticket to the state tournament thanks to an 11-2 win over second-seed Haven on Tuesday night.
The 3A state tournament is set for next Thursday and Friday, May 26-27, at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan. Brackets had not been released as of press time. The Dragons have a 15-8 record.
Halstead had been seeded third in the regional tournament, which they hosted.
The Dragons won the semi-final game against No. 1 Southeast of Saline on Tuesday, 8-3. Sophomore Jase Mueller pitched all but the end of the seventh inning, with junior Keenan McCune picking up the save.
Halstead won the first game of regionals, 4-3, over Hesston on Monday. Senior Chandler Drake threw a complete game to earn the victory, giving up zero earned runs. Coach Danny Driskill pointed out that Drake is now 5-1 on the season and has an ERA of 1.16.
Junior Adler Davison had two hits on the night to lead the team.
Halstead ended its regular season last week with two losses to Pratt, 9-3 and 7-6, with the second game going into extra innings.
“We gave ourselves chances to win game two but just could not get the job done,” Driskill said.
Senior Austin Radke led the team with three hits against Pratt. Six other players all collected two hits.
Halstead finished the regular season 12-8 overall and 11-7 in league. They were third in league after Pratt and Haven.
