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Larned baseball splits pair
alex barger
Larned pitcher Alex Barger throws a strike in the first game of Tuesday's baseball doubleheader. - photo by Photo by JANET FLESKE

LARNED — Defending Central Kansas League baseball champion Larned showed the heart of a champion by rallying for an 11-10 second-game victory over rival Pratt High School. Mason Burris singled home courtesy runner Mello Bryant for the game-winning walkoff run.
Pratt won the opener 9-5.
Larned (4-4, 4-4 CKL) trailed the second game 10-8 before rallying against Pratt (3-3, 3-1 CKL).
PRATT 9, LARNED 5 — Landen Studer drove in four runs and Thavis Theis homered to spark Pratt. Mason Schartz led the Indians with four hits.
Jonathan Herter’s double scored Schartz in the third inning. Dalton Bright’s single scored Carson Smith and Schartz scored on a balk in a two-run fourth inning.
Schartz’s seventh-inning single scored Tristen Burger and Skelton’s RBI single scored Carson Smith with Larned’s final two runs.
LARNED 11, PRATT 10 — Gage Skelton reached base on a seventh-inning infield error by Cade Perez and moved to third base when Bright singled and Herter walked. The speedy Mello Bryant substituted as a baserunner for Skelton before Burris’ game-winning hit.
The Indians led 5-1 after three innings. Carson Smith scored on Theis’ error. Herter’s single scored Schartz. Skelton scored on Alex Barger’s groundball. Bright scored on a forceout by Burris. Herter scored on a passed ball for a 5-1 lead.
Herter’s fourth-inning triple drove home Skelton and Bright for a 7-1 lead. Pratt rallied for nine runs in the next two innings for a 10-8 lead. Larned’s Bryant scored on Carson Smith’s groundball for the Indians’ eighth run.
Herter and Tristen Burger scored for a 10-10 when Jordan Taylor and Austin Gladow were hit by back-to-back beanballs by Pratt pitcher Justin Lamatsch.

Pratt 021 321 0 — 9 10 0
Larned 001 200 2 — 5 11 4
Bolen, Theis (6) and Evert. Barger, Schartz (6) and Smith. W—Bolen. L—Barger. 2B—L, Schartz, Herter, Burris; P, Schrag. HR—P, Theis.

Pratt 001 054 0 — 10 9 5
Larned 005 212 1 — 11 11 2
Barnard, Lamatsch (5) and Evert. Skelton, Herter (7) and Smith, W—Herter. L—Lamatsch. 2B—L, Barger; P, Theis, Lamatsch. 3B—L, Herter.