Great Bend Post Sports
A string of tough opponents continued for the No. 9 Panther baseball team Tuesday in Hays. TMP dropped out of this week's Class 2-1A rankings, but the Monarchs were at No. 5 last week. Great Bend took game one Tuesday 9-0, then completed the sweep with an 11-5 win in game two.
Hunter Herrman and Slade Mohr combined to allow just four hits in the game-one shutout. Herrman threw the first 4.1 innings, striking out three and allowing two hits. Mohr struck out two in his 2.2 innings of work.
The Panther offense pounded out 14 hits, including six doubles. Carson Umphres doubled in a pair of runs in the third inning to open scoring. Ian Premer led off the sixth with a triple. Trenton Kern and Daxton Minton followed with doubles to boost the Panther lead to 9-0.
Kaiser and Kern each singled and doubled, driving in three runs apiece. Kaiser also walked once, and Kern came around to score twice. Umphres singled, doubled, and walked with two RBIs. Minton, Herrman, and Koehn Ribordy also singled and doubled. Premer singled and tripled with a pair of runs.
The Panthers had to battle back from an early 3-0 deficit in game two. Great Bend managed to tie the score in the fifth inning, then broke things open with an 8-run sixth.
Ribordy recorded four outs on the mound, walking four and striking out three. The Monarchs took him for three earned runs on two hits. Minton threw the middle 3.2 innings, striking out three and allowing no runs on a single hit. Kaiser pitched the final two innings, giving up no earned runs on no hits with a strikeout and two walks.
Seven Panthers had two hits in the win. Premer singled twice and walked twice, driving in three and scoring once. Herrman and JJ Grove each doubled and singled. Kern was productive with a pair of singles and a walk that resulted in two RBIs and two runs.
Great Bend improves to 13-5 on the season ahead of Friday's games at Dodge City. The Panthers are just a game and a half back of Andover Central for the No. 1 seed in the 5A West regional standings.