TOPEKA -- The Pittsburg State University baseball team dropped a 5-0 decision to Washburn University in the regular season finale Saturday (May 2), but the Gorillas claimed the 2026 MIAA Regular Season Championship outright thanks to a Rogers State University loss in the Hillcats' Saturday match-up against Missouri Western State University.
The Gorillas completed regular season play at 40-9 overall and 27-9 in MIAA play, winning 12 of their final 13 games. Pitt State will advance to the 2026 MIAAÂ Baseball Championship at Edmond, Okla., as the No. 1 seed next week and open play in the tournament quarterfinals Thursday (May 7) at 1 p.m. (CDT) at Wendell Simmons Field on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma.
In Saturday's game, Washburn's Gavin Wilhelm (3-0) limited the Gorillas to one hit over 6.1 innings of work on the mound. He issued two walks and registered five strikeouts. Three WU relievers combined to one-hit Pitt State the rest of the way to complete the two-hit shutout.
Pitt State's
Ty Blecha (4-2) allowed four runs in 2.2 innings pitched. Four relievers combined to limit WU (21-28, 17-18 MIAA) the rest of the way, but the Gorillas offense was not able to get untracked.
Eric Bacon and
Isaac Webb collected Pitt State's two hits in the contest. Webb also swiped a pair of bases.
