By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A playoff run in football. A trip to the state basketball tournament. Now, it’s baseball’s turn. Many of the same athletes who saw success in the fall and winter seasons return to Randy Beck’s Panther baseball team that made a trip to state last spring. That makes Beck optimistic.
“It’s pretty much the same team we had last year,” he said. “We lost a couple starters to graduation but we’re returning a bunch of kids. We’ve done our team goals and we’re working on our individual goals. We set our goals pretty high and that’s a good thing.”
Great Bend finished last year at 13-10, but knocked off Andover and Hays to advance to the state tournament before losing to top-seeded and eventual champion Bishop Carroll. Just three players graduated from that team.
Beck expects a healthy pitching rotation of at least eight players. Leading that charge will be junior Carson Umphres, who led the Panthers with 43 strikeouts in 57.2 innings pitched last year. He was also a force at the plate with a team-best .468 average, 25 RBIs, nine doubles, and five triples.
“He’s our main guy,” said Beck. “He hits very well at the plate and plays great centerfield. On the mound, he’s gotten a lot better. His arm is a lot stronger this year. He throws strikes, and I think he’s going to overpower some kids.”
Junior Hunter Hermann played infield and pitched 25.2 innings last year with 30 strikeouts. Sophomore Daxton Minton battled injuries last season but is expected to pick up some innings on the mound and serve as the team’s utility man.
Sophomore Koehn Ribordy, the lone lefty on this year’s varsity squad, allowed just one earned run in 7.1 innings of work last year with 10 strikeouts. He also batted .327 with nine RBIs. Junior Owen Kaiser could take some time off from behind the plate to pitch. Junior Trey Milsap is ready to fill in behind the dish when he does.
Junior Carson Poe returns to the outfield and is expected to have increased time on the mound. Junior Slade Mohr batted .286 last season and pitched for just four outs. Beck has been impressed with his work at third base and on the mound.
“You want to talk about mixing it up,” he said. “He’s kind of a sidewinder with junk. It’ll be a good mix coming off someone who throws hard like Carson and bringing him in.”
Beck foresees 12-13 players getting consistent varsity playing time this season. Sophomore Ian Premer returns to first base after batting .339 with 18 RBIs. Sophomore Trenton Kern is coming off an injury but batted .279 last season with 12 RBIs. Sophomore JJ Grove returns at shortstop. Javon Stoney is the lone senior this season and could pick up innings on the mound, and junior Peydon Oelger could see increased playing time.
As good as the Panther bats could be, Beck is also pleased with what he’s seeing defensively.
“We’re solid all the way around,” he said. “I feel really confident in our defense. We’re getting a little smarter on situations on where to go with the ball instead of just throwing it in somewhere. I think we’ve done a fairly good job with that this spring so far.”
The Panthers travel to Russell on Thursday, then begin a home doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Great Bend Sports Complex.