BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
First-year Great Bend baseball coach Mike Stettinger earned all-state and All-Western Athletic Conference honors as a catcher for two 5A state runner-up teams under coach Jeff Langrehr.
He's coached 16 years at Great Bend and started coaching high school summer baseball in 2007.
He appreciates his father, and credits coaches Langrehr, Curt Schaub, Mike Warren and Randy Beck as key influences.
"My dad developed my skill and installed a love for the game," he said. "Each coach has had their impact, and I mix their styles together. Coach Langrehr left a legacy of hard-nosed winning baseball. Kurt Schaub taught me how to have an approach at the plate. Coach Randy Beck gave me confidence going into my first year."
St. Thomas Aquinas beat the Panthers 7-4 in the 5A state championship. The Panthers defeated Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 5-4, Arkansas City 10-0, KC Piper 3-0 and Blue Valley Southwest 4-1 to reach the title game.
All-WAC 1B Ian Premer will not compete. The Panthers graduated seven seniors -- Carson Umphres, Hunter Herrman, Slade Mohr, Peyden Oelger, Owen Kaiser, Eli Soupiset and Jace Schartz.
Top returnees are All-WAC 3B Trenton Kern, catcher Jaxon Wondra (.289; 24-83; 18 RBI); P/OF Koehn Ribordy (.404, 38-94; 29 RBI; 1-0, 3.40 ERA); and second-team All-WAC P/SS Daxton Minton (7-2, 3.24 ERA), who has a 10-2 record the past two years.
Stettinger commented on his top returning players.
"Shortstop/pitcher Daxton will be our No. 1 pitcher and hit in the top of the lineup," Stettinger said. "Daxton is a great leader. He's invaluable as the team's vocal leader. He's the catalyst at the top of the order.
"With Trent, one word comes to mind 'Toughness.' Trent does whatever it takes to get the job done, and doesn't have any 'quit' in him.
"Jaxon Wondra loves baseball more than most players I've coached. Jaxon will be our catcher, and will see time on the mound. Jaxon's offensive production will jump. He can really hit."
"Koehn Ribordy will hit at the top of the order, and provide valuable innings on the mound."
Stettinger believes the Panthers have potential to develop into a well-rounded baseball team.
Several outfield and infield spots will be competitive. Our younger guys to step in and compete.
The lineup will feature C Wondra, 1B Kale Kern/Eli Contreras; 2B Rafael Chavez/Jaden Prilling; SS Minton/Gavin Wondra; 3B Trent Kern/Ian Gilliland; and OF Kaito Richter, Koehn Ribordy/Jakoby Council/Cade Urban.
The offense will take advantage of its speed and employ the bunting and run game.
"We'll be a scrappy hard-nosed baseball team," he said. "Defensively, we'll make the routine plays. Offensively, we want to put pressure on the defense. We'll execute the bunting game, and use aggressive base running. We should be fun to watch offensively. We'll be aggressive on balls in the zone. Our pitchers will compete to throw strikes to get routine ground balls and fly balls."
Minton and Ribordy will anchor the pitching staff. Other pitching candidates will be Jaxon Wondra, Rafael Chavez and Jayden Prilling.
Younger players Carter Dreiling, Christian Alcala, Gavin Wondra and Jakoby Council will be given an opportunity to compete at the varsity level. Newcomers expected to compete are Kale Kern, who's shown some pop, and Rafael Chavez.
Lack of varsity level experience is the Panthers' biggest question mark.
"We're relatively inexperienced, but have potential to make a postseason run," he said. "We'll compete every day to get better. With younger guys, it's not where you start the season, it's where you finish that matters."
Great Bend owns state baseball titles in 1955, 1995 and 1998. The Panthers qualified for back-to-back state trips in 2018 and 2019.
Three years ago, the Panthers survived Hays High 3-1 and Andover 4-3 to qualify for the 5A state tournament for the first time since 2019.
PANTHER ROSTER
SENIORS—Daxton Minton, P/OF (7-2, 3.24 ERA; 15 ER-32 1/3 IP; Minton .420, 37-88; 32 R, 25 RBI, 6-2B, 2-3B;); Trenton Kern, 3B (.290; 27-93; 16 R, 27 RBI, 4-2B, 1-HR); Koehn Ribordy, P/OF (.404, 38-94; 29 RBI; 1-0, 3.40 ERA, 10 ER-16 IP); Eli Contreras, OF
JUNIORS—Kale Kern; Rafael Chavez, P-IF; Kaito Richter, P/IF; Jaxon Wondra, P/C/IF (.289; 24-83; 18 RBI)
SOPHOMORES—Kade Urban, Jayden Prilling, Kade Baker, Mark Mazouch, Jacob Mazouch; K.J. Cell; Ian Gilliand
NINTH-GRADERS—Jakoby Council; Kade Thexton; Charlie Foster; Carter Dreiling; Christian Alcala; Gavin Wondra; Crawford Kaiser; Jamison Stoney; Brayden Herrman; Baylan Jenkinson; Jayden Crawford; Kellen Chansler; Kristian Bustamante; Julian Hernandez
PANTHER SCHEDULE—3-24—*at Garden City; 3-27—at Hutchinson; 3-31—*at Hays; 4-2—Pratt; 4-6—*Dodge City; 4-10—*Liberal; 4-14—*at Hays High; 4-17—Wichita Carroll at Equity Park; 4-21—at McPherson (McPherson Emporia, Rose Hill); 4-24/25—at Gardner, DeSoto (BVSW, DeSoto, Joplin, Mo.); 4-28—*at Liberal; 5-2—*Dodge City; 5-6—*at Garden City; 5-9—at McPherson; 5-14—Manhattan; 5-19—at 5A regionals
PANTHER PITCHING GONE--Umphres 8-2, 1.45 ERA; 14 ER-59 1/3 IP; 61 K/59 1/3 IP; Herrman 5-1, 1.85 ERA; 10 ER-37 2/3 IP; Kaiser 2-0, 2.52 ERA; Mohr 1-1, 3.50 ERA; Oelger 0-0, 0.00 ERA
PANTHER BATTING GONE—Ian Premer, 1B (.420, 34-81; 31 R, 21 RBI, 7-2B, 3-3B); Umphres .438, 39-89; 46 R, 35 RBI, 8-2B, 4-3B, 5-HR; Schartz .273, 6-22; 12 R, 3 RBI; Kaiser .253, 20-79; 7 R, 2-2B, 1-HR, 15 RBI; Mohr .246, 18-73; 22 R, 17 RBI; Herrman .222, 12-54, 6 RBI
