HAYS – As usual, rival Hays High spoiled the Great Bend Panthers’ baseball weekend. Hays outlasted the Panthers 4-3 in eight innings Friday and eventually won the Hays Diamond Classic with a 9-0 rout over Manhattan. The Panthers beat Wichita Life Prep 17-8 and lost 6-2 to Manhattan.
Great Bend (7-10) is projected to be paired with Goddard Eisenhower (11-7) in the 5A baseball regionals. The Panthers wind down the regular season Friday at home against Goddard Eisenhower.
PANTHERS 17, WICHITA LIFE 8 – Great Bend started with a rousing 17-8 victory over Wichita Life Prep. The Panthers scored five runs in the first inning. Chayse Gruber drilled a two-run double and Paco Hernandez and Brad Beck delivered RBI doubles. Stefan Spray added an RBI single for a 5-0 lead.
Spray added an RBI single in the second inning. Hernandez scored a fourth-inning run. Joseph Moeder scored a sixth-inning run. Gruber and Spray singled in a five-run sixth inning that featured four walks and two hit batters. Joseph Moeder, Edwin Chavez and Hernandez keyed a four-run seventh-inning with singles.
HAYS HIGH 4, PANTHERS 3 – As usual, a thriller ended when Ben Krannawitter’s sacrifice fly scored Will Cadoret with the game-winning eighth-inning run.
Dawson VonFeldt scored the Indians’ first-inning run. Matt Nieman scored the Panthers’ first run after running for catcher Brad Beck. Krannawitter’s single scored Noah Weimer for a 2-1 lead after two innings.
Hernandez singled home Jade Poe for a 2-2 tie after three innings. Gavin Haberman’s fourth-inning run gave the Panthers a brief 3-2 lead. Dylan Dreiling scored on Garrett Wellbrock’s fifth-inning single for a 3-3 tie.
Third baseman Gruber started a 5-3 double play for the Panthers’ top defensive play
MANHATTAN 5, PANTHERS 2 – Great Bend’s Spray singled home Gruber and Sage Koelsch scored on a wild pitch for the Panthers’ runs. Koelsch turned a 6-3-5 double play ball to spark the defense.
Manhattan’s Braden Dinkel hit an RBI single and scored a run to lead the Indians. Keenan Schartz and Ian Luce delivered RBI singles. Dayne Aschenbrenner and Jack Campbell each scored two runs.
Great Bend 510 115 4 – 17 12 1
Wichita Life 201 041 0 – 8 5 0
Hernandez, Spray, Gruber and Beck. W—Hernandez. 2B—GB—Hernandez, Gruber, Beck; WL—Sorota
Great Bend 011 100 00 – 3 7 3
Hays High 110 010 01 – 4 7 0
Holden, Chavez and Beck. Spray and Cox. L—Chavez. 2B—GB—Poe
Great Bend 010 010 0 – 2 3 1
Manhattan 111 200 1 – 6 11 1
Gruber, Koelsch and Beck. Horsman and Pere. W—Horsman. L—Gruber. 2B—M—Dinkel, Luce
5A BASEBALL REGIONALS
1—Wichita Carroll 16-1 vs. /16 Salina South 5-11/17 Topeka West 4-14 winner; 8 Arkansas City 9-7 vs. 9 Goddard 10-8
2—2 Andover Central 13-1 vs. 15 Andover High 5-11; 7 Maize High 11-7 vs. 10 Salina Central 10-8
3—3 Hays High 13-3 vs. 14 Emporia 6-11; 6 Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 11-7 vs. 11 Valley Center 9-9
4—4 Maize South 11-5 vs. 13 Newton 7-12; 5 Goddard Eisenhower 11-7 vs. 12 Great Bend 7-10
