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Great Bend baseball splits opening twin bill
Chayse Gruber
RUN CHIEFS MAIN PACKAGE RUN SHRINE BOWL PAGE 1 SLIDE BEST PHOTO Great Bend Chief Chayse Gruber slides safely on Jade Poe’s second-inning single. FIRST RUN Great Bend Chief Layton Holden scores a second-inning run on Chayse Gruber’s double. SECOND RUN Great Bend Chief Gavin Haberman scores a second-inning run on Chayse Gruber’s double. FOURTH RUN Great Bend Chief Mathew Moeder celebrates a run after scoring on Townshend Kurth’s squeeze bunt. PITCHER Great Bend Chief Chayse Gruber delivers a pitch against the Dodge City Rangers. The Chiefs won 6-3.

McPHERSON — Great Bend pitcher Chayse Gruber threw a two-hit shutout to spark the Panthers past Junction City 16-0 in Tuesday’s windswept baseball opener. McPherson rolled past the Panthers 8-2 in the second game of Tuesday’s baseball triangular.

GREAT BEND 16, JUNCTION CITY 0 (G1) — Gruber struck out five batters in a nifty 43-pitch, four-inning outing. Junction City’s Ky’rell Taylor and Cooper Bogenhagen singled.

Paco Hernandez keyed a 16-hit attack with four hits, a three-run home run and five runs batted in. Gavin Haberman drove home three runs and Sage Koelsch and Carter Coombs each delivered two RBIs.

In a four-run first inning, Jade Poe singled home Hernandez, Haberman singled home Gruber and Poe and Brad Beck stole home on a double steal.

Koelsch scored on Hernandez’s second-inning single. In a five-run third inning, Haberman singled home Stefan Spray. Haberman scored on Coombs’ dounle. Beck scored on a passed ball. Joseph Moeder scored on a Koelsch single. Coombs scored on a Hernandez single for a 10-0 lead.

Hernandez’s three-run homer scored Coombs and Koelsch for a game-ending run-rule victory. Beck scored on Moeder’s double. Haberman scored on a Coombs single. Moeder scored on a Koelsch double for a 13-0 lead.   

MCPHERSON 8, GREAT BEND 2 (G2) — Five McPherson’s pitchers held the Panthers in check. Haberman’s second-inning single Spray. Gruber’s third-inning scored Koelsch for a 2-2 tie.

Hunter Alvord scored on a sacrifice fly and Tytin Goebel scored on a first-inning passed ball. Cade Wedel homered and Tucker Pelnar scored on Alvord’s fourth-inning single.

In a four-run fifth inning, Wedel scored on a bases-loaded walk. Dawson Feil scored on Carter Allen’s single. Pelnar’s single scored Jaron Brown and Wedel.  

McPherson (4-0) swept the triangular with a 5-4 victory over Junction City.   

Junction City 000 0 — 0 2 0 

Great Bend 415 6 — 16 16 0

Levi Mehl, Lindsley (2), Welch (3), Avers (4) and Nubis. Gruber and Beck. W—Gruber, 1-0. L—Mehl, 0-1. 2B—GB—Koelsch, Beck, Coombs, Moeder. HR—GB—Hernandez.

Great Bend 011 000 0 — 2 5 2

McPherson 200 240 x — 8 14 1

Hernandez, Stuhlsatz (3), Spray (5) and Beck. Allen, Feil (1), Goebel (4), Pearson (6), Alvord (7) and Feil. W—Goebel, 1-0. L—Stuhlsatz. 0-1. 2B—GB—Kolesch. HR—M—Wedel.