BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Wichita 316 Elite, a baseball team featuring graduating high school seniors, pushed the Great Bend Bat Cats in Sunday's doubleheader at Lawson-Biggs Field. 316 Elite featured Great Bend 5A all-staters Chayse Gruber and Paco Hernandez.
The Bat Cats (4-1, 2-0) worked hard to sweep the Sunflower Collegiate League doubleheader 9-5 and 3-2 in games that went down to the final inning. Bat Cats coach Roger Ward's strategy of playing two different 9-man batting lineups worked flawlessly.
BAT CATS 9, ELITE 5 (G1) – Bat Cats reliever Cade McWilliams escaped a bases-loaded threat by retiring Justin Stephens on a 6-4-3 double play handled by shortstop Drew Amaral and second baseman Colter Maldanado to end the game. Starter David Stuart (1-0) struck out seven batters in five hard-fought innings.
Simon Larranaga led an 8-hit attack with a 2-run single and RBI double that scored Connor Allen for a valuable sixth-inning insurance run. Allen delivered RBI singles in the third and fourth innings.
JoJo Nieves and Si Schumacher produced sacrifice flies in the second and fifth innings. Amaral tripled home Schumacher and Kyle Gates tripled home Amaral in a 3-run fourth inning. Gates scored on Allen's single.
The Elite's Braden Horn drilled a 2-run double to ignite a 4-run third inning. Hernandez singled home Landon Heim and Horn scored on a wild pitch. Gruber doubled twice and scored on Aiden Doty's fifth-inning groundball. Stuart struck out Stephens and Epp to strand a baserunner.
BAT CATS 3, ELITE 2 (G2) – Elite's final mistake proved critical. Sparkplug Alex Rodgers scored the game-winning run when Bodi Waller's infield single slid under Landon Heim's glove for a game-ending error.
Rodgers walked and stole second base without a throw. Heim would've prevented Rodgers from scoring had he gloved the baseball and kept the ball in the infield.
Bat Cats reliever George Austin (1-0) retired six consecutive batters and struck out the side in the seventh inning. Starter Dash Albus struck out seven batters and yielded one earned run in five solid innings. Shortstop Kaithen Malone delivered the game's signature play with a diving catch on Aiden Doty's fourth-inning line drive.
Colby Christian tripled and scored on a second-inning wild pitch for a 1-0 Bat Cats lead. Elite's Tytin Goebel doubled and scored on Chayse Gruber's fifth-inning groundball.
Elite led 2-1 when Justin Stephens scored on Goebel's sixth-inning groundball. Albus worked out of trouble after committed a throwing error on Tyler Epp's groundball. Albus struck out Blake Coss and retired Goebel and Heim on back-to-back forceouts.
Christian's speed manufactured a sixth-inning run. He stole second base after being hit-by-a-pitch. He sped to third base on Malone's fly ball and scored on Matthew Howell's fly ball for a 2-2 tie.
316 Elite 004 010 0 – 5 6 2
Bat Cats 211 311 x – 9 8 1
Gruber, Doty (3), Hernandez (4), Stephens (6) and Horn. Stuart, McWilliams (6) and Allen. W–Stuart 1-0. L–Doty, 0-1.. 2B–Elite–Gruber 2; GB–Larranaga. 3B–GB–Amaral, Gates.
316 Elite 000 110 0 – 2 2 4
Bat Cats 010 001 1 – 3 4 2
Thomson, Turner (5), Stephens (7) and. Epp. Albus, Austin (6) and Fahrlander. W–Austin, 1-0. L–Stephens, 0-1. 2B–Elite–Goebel. 3B–GB–Christian.
BAT CATS (4-1, 2-0)
JUNE
W—McPherson Pipeliners 12-5 (W Albus 1-0)
W—Hays Larks 5-3 (W Lanik 1-0)
L— Hays Larks, 0-8 (L Gonzalez 0-1)
W —Wichita 316, 9-5 (W Stuart 1-0)
W —Wichita 316, 3-2 (W Austin 1-0)
6-6—Dodge City A’s (Barton CC), 7
6-9—at Dodge City A’s, 7
6-11—Mulvane Patriots (2), 3
6-12—at Mulvane Patriots (2), 3
6-14—Wichita 316 (2), 6
6-15-16—Newton Rebels, 7
6-17—at Newton Rebels, 7
6-19—at Newton Rebels, 6
6-20—at Haysville Aviators, 7
6-21-22—Haysville Aviators, 7
6-23—at Haysville Aviators, 7
6-25—Hutchinson Monarchs, 6
6-27—Hutchinson Monarchs, 7
6-28-29—at Hutchinson Monarchs, 7
6-30—Kingman Islanders, 7
JULY
7-1—at Kingman Islanders, 7
7-2—Kingman Islanders, 7
7-3—at Kingman Islanders, 3
7-7—Derby Twins, 7
7-9—Derby Twins, 6
7-10—at Derby Twins, 7
7-12—Cheney, 7
7-13—at Cheney, 7
7-14—Cheney, 7
7-15—at Cheney, 7
7-18—at Wichita Lobos, 7
7-19—Wichita Lobos, 7
7-20—at Wichita Lobos, 7
7-21—Wichita Lobos, 7
