MANHATTAN — It was not the start to the 2013 season that Great Bend Chiefs head coach Mike Stettinger was hoping for.
The Class AAA American Legion baseball team went 0-4 at the Tournament of Champions at Larvell Field on Friday and Saturday.
“It was kind of a long weekend,” Stettinger said. “We just couldn’t get things going for us.”
The Chiefs opened their season on Friday at noon against Manhattan after weather forced the game to be postponed. They lost 11-4.
Hays routed Great Bend 18-4 in four innings to close out Friday’s games.
On Saturday, the Chiefs lost 11-0 in five innings against the Kansas Crush of Topeka, and 15-5 against the Topeka Stars in four innings.
“Our pitching staff really struggled as a whole,” Stettinger said. “We walked a lot of people, which really isn’t characteristic of our pitching staff.”
Great Bend did manage 25 hits over the weekend.
“We had some opportunities,” Stettinger said. “We had some big hits, but like I said, a lot of our hits were right at somebody.”
The Chiefs travel to Hays on Tuesday, June 11. The opening game of the doubleheader starts at 6.

                                                            — Kevin Price