BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
WICHITA — The Great Bend Bombers baseball team avenged a pair of losses to qualify for the championship game in the Wichita Wood Bat State Baseball Tournament.
Wichita Baty downed the Bombers 3-0 in Sunday’s championship game at Riverfront Stadium. The Bombers (9-6-2) played three baseball games Sunday.
“They were disappointed losing the championship, but everyone saw we couldn’t catch a break,” said Bombers coach Chris Umphres. “A couple plays cost us some runs. We hit the ball well enough to win that game. It was a great experience for these boys getting to play at such a nice facility.”
The Bombers started 1-1 in pool play and dropped its first game in the double-elimination bracket. The Bombers rallied to win three consecutive games to reach the championship game.
The team batted .287 with wood bats. The Bombers used 10 pitchers to keep opponents’ hitters at .229 for the tournament.
“Playing in a 5-day tournament can be a grind,” Umphres said. “Our pitchers and defense did a great job. Our hitters swung the wood bats better than the stats show. The hitters were on fire and hit many balls hard right at the defense.”
WICHITA BATY 3 GB BOMBERS 0 (1ST) — The Bombers missed two chances to score. Carson Umphres and Owen Kaiser singled in the fourth, but Wichita Baty (10-1) turned an inning-ending double play. Koehn Ribordy was thrown out stealing with two runners on base to end the first inning.
Bomber Peyton Oelger (1-1) threw three solid innings.
Maize pitcher Luke Ethridge threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts. Karsten Wall scored on a fourth-inning groundout. Ethridge singled home Lewis. Lewis singled home Wall in the fifth inning.
GB BOMBERS 13, EDMOND, OKLA. 1 — Bombers pitcher Ribordy (3-0) dominated with 10 strikeouts to rout Edmond, Okla. 13-1 after losing an earlier showdown 10-2.
Lane French and Slade Mohr each led the offense with three runs batted home. Ribordy, Hunter Herrman and Umphres each drove in two runs. Campbell Coleman delivered three hits.
GB BOMBERS 12, WICHITA ELITE TORRES 3 — The Bombers beat Elite Torres 12-3 after losing an earlier matchup 12-4. Coleman, Herrman and Minton each drove home two runs in an 11-hit attack. Ribordy, French and Umphres each drove home a run. Umphres (1-1) yielded two earned runs in six innings.
GB BOMBERS 4, COLLINSVILLE, OKLA. 0 — Herrman (2-0) threw a 5-hit shutout 4-0 over Collinsville, Okla. Saturday.
Carson Umphres doubled home Lane French in the first inning. Umphres scored on Trenton Kern’s fourth-inning double. Campbell Coleman singled in Kern for a 3-0 lead. Coleman scored on a sxth-inning error.
Umphres delivered the key defensive play with a throw to J.J. Grove, who relayed to Grove, who tagged out Colton Hollenback at third base after a fifth-inning double.
WOOD BAT BRACKET—1ST—Wichita Baty 3, GB Bombers 0; WINNERS BRACKET FINAL—Wichita Baty 6, Collinsville, Okla. 5; SECOND ROUND–Wichita Baty 2, Wichita Elite Torres 1; Collinsville, Okla. 7, Edmond, Okla. 1; FIRST ROUND–Wichita Elite Torres 11, GB Bombers 4; Edmond, Okla. 4, Tulsa Baseball 2; Collinsville, Okla. 15, Butler Cubs 0
CONSOLATION–Tulsa Baseball 7, Butler Cubs 0; Wichita Elite Torres 2, Tulsa Baseball 1; GB Bombers 4, Collinsville, Okla. 0; GB Bombers 12, Wichita Elite Torres 3; LOSERS FINAL–GB Bombers 13, Edmond, Okla. 1
GB Bombers 000 000 0 — 0 5 1
Wichita Baty 000 210 x — 3 7 1
Oelger, Mohr (4), Kaiser (6) and Kaiser, Coleman (6). Ethridge, Cobb (7) and Jones. W–Ethridge. L–Oelger, 1-1. 2B–GB–Kern. 3B–WB–Wall.
GB Bombers 044 32 — 13 9 2
Warriors 001 00 — 1 2 5
Ribordy, Oelger (5) and Kaiser. Tucker, Shriver (2), Tarbox (4) and Scott. W–Riborby, 3-0. L–Tucker,
GB Bombers 009 003 — 12 11 1
Wichita Elite Torres 201 000 — 3 1 2
Umphres and Kaiser. Chattam, Minham (3), Houston (6) and Jones. W–Umphres, 1-1. L–Chattam. 2B–GB–Ribordy, Coleman.
GB Bombers 100 201 0 — 4 6 1
Prestige Worldwide 000 000 0 — 0 5 5
Padgett, Rush (6), Duncan (7) and Hollenbeck. Herrman and Kaiser. W—Herrman, 2-0. 2B—GB—Umphres, Kaiser. 3B—GB—Kern.
