BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
BUHLER – Great Bend's baseball appearance at the Wheatland World Series transformed into a season-ending nightmare.
The Chiefs committed four errors in both tournament games as the Ottawa Arrows eliminated the Chiefs 7-3 Saturday morning.
"It's unfortunate to end our season like that," said Great Bend coach Randy Beck. "We were good enough to compete. We didn't perform."
OTTAWA ARROWS 7. CHIEFS 3 –Great Bend (17-15) started slowly in Saturday's 9 a.m. opener after ending after 10 p.m. Friday at Wray Field.
After an opening first-inning error, starting pitcher Chayse Gruber, the Chiefs' hottest player, struggled with two walks and a hit batter. Ottawa scored four runs with RBI singles by Brendan Oshel and Brady Beets. Ryan Laurie forced home Quinton Carver on a hit batter. Antonio Espinosa scored on a double steal for a 4-0 lead.
Chief Colin Hall drove in Townshend Kurth with a first-inning sacrifice fly after back-to-back walks for a 4-1 score. Hall and Mathew Moeder delivered middle-inning singles, but the Chiefs were baffled by crafty Ottawa southpaw Lane Altic for six innings.
"We did not compete at the plate," said Great Bend coach Randy Beck. "We didn't string anything together until the last inning. We didn't put the ball in play until the last inning."
Ottawa's Brett Hadl tripled home Carson Hein in the second inning for a 5-1 lead after a leadoff error. Espinosa tripled home Hadl and Espinosa scored on Ryan Laurie's perfect squeeze bunt for a 7-1 lead.
The Chiefs broke loose with four consecutive seventh-inning singles. Jade Poe and Stefan Spray singled. Gavin Haberman's single scored Poe and Spray scored on an error. Altic regrouped to struck out Joseph Moeder and Sage Koelsch to end the ballgame.
No. 2 tournament seed Great Bend (17-15) finished on a sour note.
"It was a fun summer,'" Beck said.
NEWTON 4, CHIEFS 0 – Newton's pitchers struck out 13 Great Bend Chiefs for a 4-0 victory at Friday's Wheatland World Series baseball tournament.
"We didn't compete at the plate," Beck said. "With two strikes, we want to put the baseball in play and put pressure on the defense."
The Chiefs loaded the bases in the first inning when Chayse Gruber singled and Colin Hall doubled. Newton starter Ben Schmidt struck out Jade Poe and Gavin Haberman to work out of trouble. Red-hot Gruber singled twice and Hall singled twice.
Newton scored three unearned runs. Trev Golubski drove home Camden Fenwick after a second-inning triple. Fenwick reached second base when Townshend Kurth misplayed a fourth-inning catchable ball. Fenwick scored on a throwing error and Golubski scored on Gavin Cusick's groundout for a 3-0 lead. Another Chiefs' error led to Henry Claassen scoring a seventh-inning run for a 4-0 lead.
"You can't give teams extra opportunities," Beck said.
Chiefs starter Stefan Spray (2-1) struck out eight batters and worked 61/3 effective innings, yielding one earned run..
"Stefan threw his heart out," Beck said. "We wasted a very good pitching performance by Stefan Spray."
KNIGHTS 4, CHIEFS 0
Newton 000 000 0 – 4 4 0
Chiefs 000 000 0 – 0 4 4
Schmidt and. Boston. Spray, Soupiset (7) and Beck. W–Schmidt. L–Spray, 2-1. 3B–GB–Hall; N–Fenwick.
ARROWS 7, CHIEFS 3
Ottawa 400 000 0 – 7 9 0
Chiefs 100 000 2 – 3 6 4
Altic and Oshel. Gruber, Hall (6) and Hall, Poe (6).L–Gruber, 4-3. 3B–O–Espinosa.
BUHLER TOURNAMENT (WRAY FIELD)
FRIDAY– G1–McPherson 10, Ottawa 0; G2–Newton 9, Salina Falcons 5; G3–Buhler Nationals 4, McPherson 3.; G4–Newton 4, Great Bend Chiefs 0
SATURDAY– G5–Ottawa 7, Great Bend Chiefs 3.; G6–McPherson 10, Salina Falcons 0; G7–Buhler Nationals 7, Newton Knights 5; G8–McPherson 8, Ottawa 6
SUNDAY– G9–Newton Knights 15-12 vs. McPherson 12-10, 9 a.m.; G10–Buhler Nationals 23-7 vs.G9 winner, 11 a.m.; G11–if needed
GREAT BEND CHIEFS (17-15)
WL–Chiefs vs. Larned 11-10 (W Spray), 3-8 (L Zahnter)
LL–Chiefs at Hays 3-8 (L Holden), 0-10 (L Hall)
WW–Chiefs vs. Larned, 8-3 (W Koelsch), 4-2 (W Gruber)
WWLL–Chiefs at McPherson (W Wichita Aeros 7-5 (W Hernandez); W Hutchinson 4-3 (W Hall); L Hays Eagles 3-6 (L Gruber); L KC Aces 1-4 (L Hall)
LW–Chiefs vs. Pratt, 7-10 (L Poe); TMP 10-5 (W Joseph Moeder)
WWLL—Salina Tournament (W Hutchinson Colts 4-3 (W Hall); L Topeka Scrappers 0-17 (L Hernandez); W Wichita Sluggers 4-3 (W Holden); L Topeka Senators 5-10 (L Gruber)
WW–Chiefs at Salina Falcons, 10-3 (Holden), 6-2 (W Joseph Moeder)
WL–Chiefs vs. Dodge City, 3-2 (W Gruber), 4-13 (L Hall)
WWLL–Junction City Tournament (W Hutchinson 12-1 (W Holden); L Junction City 6-7 (L Kurth); W Tri County 9-4 (W Gruber); L Yellow Jackets 2-6 (L Hernandez)
WL–Chiefs vs. Salina Falcons 6-1 (W Spray), 5-7 (L Poe)
WW–Chiefs vs. Dodge City, 6-3 (W Hall), 8-6 (W Joseph Moeder)
WL–Chiefs vs. Hays Eagles, 5-1 (W Hall), 4-16 (L Joseph Moeder)
L–Buhler Tournament (Chiefs vs. Newton 0-4 (L Spray)
L–Buhler Tournament (Chiefs vs. Ottawa 3-7 (L Gruber)
