BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

Great Bend Bat Cat Chayse Gruber pitched five shutout innings to spark a 4-1 non-league baseball victory over the Liberal BeeJays Thursday. Great Bend native Gruber (3-0, 1.74 ERA) struck out a season-high 10 batters. 

"I threw off-speed pitches that worked well. I dialed it in," he said. "Their batters were on their front foot, looking for a fastball. I've been working on throwing off-speed early in the count. Once I get that in the zone, I can play off my fastball."

Gruber, headed to Richmond, Va. has 26 strikeouts in 202/3 innings.

"I appreciate the support," he said. "That's what makes it fun. There's no better feeling coming back to that."

Bat Cat reliever D.J. Cavazos threw three shutout innings. Julio Heredia (0.68 ERA, 26.2/3 innings) with 47 strikeouts worked the ninth inning. The Bat Cat pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.

Cooper Smith singled in Jesse Ponce in the first inning. The first four batters reached base in a 3-run fourth inning. Kyler Horsman singled and scored on an error. Ian George scored on a Garrett Ninness single. Kyle Walker reached base on an error and scored on Joey Marker's sacrifice fly.

The Bat Cats nearly broke the game open, but Liberal turned double plays to end the first and fourth innings.

Liberal (21-6) scored a ninth-inning run after a checked swing didn't go the Bat Cats' way. Julio Ramirez scored on a Joel Roberts groundout.

JUNCTION CITY 8, BAT CATS 1 (WEDNESDAY)  – The Junction City Brigade (19-7) routed the Great Bend Bat Cats 8-1 in Wednesday's non-league baseball game.

The slumping Bat Cats (18-15) have lost five of six games entering Thursday's home game against the Liberal BeeJays. The Bat Cats play a 3 p.m. Saturday home doubleheader.

Great Bend's Kyle Walker doubled home Ian George for a ninth-inning run. Walker singled and doubled. Jesse Ponce, Jhett Creel, Cooper Smith, Tyler Stuhlsatz and Kade Goeke singled. At one point, 14 consecutive batters were retired.

Junction City's Logan Nabus drove home four runs with three singles and a double. Ian Luce, Andy Pacheco, Keegan McDonald and Cale Ortner also drove in runs. The Brigade scored runs in five innings off starter Nolan Bushko and reliever Carson Sowell.

Liberal 000 000 001 – 1 3 3

GB Bat Cats 100 300 00x – 4 8 1

Huffman, Wade (6) and Molina. Gruber, Cavazos (6), Heredia (9) and George. W–Gruber, 3-0. L–Huffman.  

GB Bat Cats 000 000 001 – 1 7 2

JC Brigade 020 131 01x – 8 9 0

Bushko, Sowell (6) and George. Myers, Laughlin (4), Figgs (7), Hoffman (9) and Nabus. W–Laughlin. L–Bushko, 2-4. 2B–GB–Creel, Walker; JC–Pacheco, Toledo, Nabus.

JAYHAWK COLLEGIATE

2ND HALF/OVERALL

Hutchinson Monarchs 12-3 25-7

Kansas Cannons 11-4 24-9

Derby Twins 10-5 23-11

Wichita Dirtbags 8-5 10-15

Haysville Aviators 6-8 20-12

GB Bat Cats 6-8 19-15

Kingman Islanders 4-7 11-16

Newton Rebels 4-11 8-25

Diamond Kings 2-12 6-22

MONDAY–Monarchs 11, Blacksox 1; Newton 15, Dirtbags 5; Cannons 7, Kingman 4; Haysville 14, Diamond Kings 11

TUESDAY–Bat Cats 13, Derby 1; Derby 5, Bat Cats 3; Newton 14, Dirtbags 5; Cannons 5, Kingman 3

WEDNESDAY–Junction City 8, Bat Cats 1; Derby 6, Haysville 2; Kingman 4, Newton 3

THURSDAY–Bat Cats 4, Liberal 1; Cannons 5, Monarchs 2; Newton 10, Kingman 9; Diamond Kings 5-4, Dirtbags 4-7; Haysville 13, Derby 1

FRIDAY–Kingman at Monarchs; Haysville at Newton; Cannons at Dirtbags

SATURDAY–Diamond Kings at Bat Cats (2); Dirtbags at Cannons; Haysville at Newton; Kingman at Monarchs