BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

DODGE CITY – Great Bend pitcher Stefan Spray locked down Dodge City's hitters and benefited from spectacular defense for a season-opening 3-2 Legion baseball victory. Dodge City won Wednesday's Legion baseball nightcap 7-4.

The Chiefs (1-1) play Larned’s Legion team Friday at The Great Bend Sports Complex. 

CHIEFS 3, DODGE CITY 2 (G1) – The Chiefs threw out four Dodge City baserunners. Chiefs catcher Brad Beck keyed the victory by throwing out two Dodge City baserunners. First baseman Paco Hernandez relayed to Beck who threw out Tucker Smith in the third inning. Beck picked off Chayston Keck at first base in the fifth inning. 

Hernandez threw to third baseman Jade Poe who tagged Smith out in the sixth inning. Pitcher Hernandez provided the game’s biggest defensive play by forcing out Geo Garcia on Remmington Miller’s seventh-inning bunt.

Dodge City’s Matt Friess doubled and scored on Damien Rodriguez’s first-inning groundout for a 1-0 lead.

The Chiefs rallied with three runs.

Beck scored on a fourth-inning double steal with Gavin Haberman when Dodge City catcher Geo Garcia threw to second base. Beck’s hustling infield single drove home Jade Poe with two out in the fifth inning. Haberman reached on a sixth-inning error and scored on a wild pitch which proved to be the game-winning run.

Dodge City rallied when four runners reached base in the seventh inning. Aidan Sowers scored on Chayston Keck’s two-out single. But Hernandez struck out Dakota Whitman for the game’s final out.

DODGE CITY 7, CHIEFS 4 (G2) — Great Bend’s Gavin Haberman singled home Poe and Spray for a 7-4 score, but baserunner Brad Beck was tagged out at third base for the game’s final out. 

Spray’s first-inning single scored Koelsch and Poe scored on an error for a 2-0 lead. 

Dodge City’s Tucker Smith singled home Gavin Jones for a 2-1 score after two innings. Geo Garcia and Miller delivered RBI third-inning singles for a 3-2 lead off Chiefs’ lefthanded pitcher Tyler Stuhlsatz. 

Caleb Miles singled home Keck and Matt Friess for a 5-2 lead. Friess drilled an RBI single and scored on Koelsch’s wild pitch for a 7-2 lead.

Great Bend 000 111 0 – 3 5 1 

Dodge City 100 000 1 –  2 3 1

Spray, Hernandez (7) and Beck. Friess, Sowers (5) and Garcia, Duran (5). W–Spray. L–Sowers. 2B–DC–Friess

Great Bend 200 000 2 – 4 8 4

Dodge City 012 220 x –  7 10 1

Stuhlsatz, Koelsch (6) and Poe. Smith, Riekenberg (5) and Miller. W–Smith. L–Stuhlsatz. 2B–GB–Koelsch