HUTCHINSON-Shade Wondra and Bryce Lytle went 2-for-3 and helped lead an 8-hit attack as the Panthers opened the 2015 campaign with a 5-3 win over Andover in the first of a Tuesday doubleheader. Hutch High took advantage of six errors and rallied with a 12-run payload in the bottom of the fifth to defeat Great Bend, 13-3 in the second contest.

The Panthers scored three unasnwered runs over the first five innings of the win against Andover.

Brady Michel racked up three RBI on two hits for the Panthers in the victory.  Michel had a pair of sacrifice flies in the first and second and drove in another run in the bottom of the sixth on a single.

Andover mustered their only three runs in there half of the seventh as the Panthers went on to claim the 5-3 win. Wondra (1-0) pitched a complete game victory yielding six hits, four walks and recorded four strikeouts.

Hutch took a 1-0 lead in their half of the first before the Panthers used a 3-run spread over the second and fifth innings to take the go ahead leading 3-1.  

The Salthawks then scored 12 runs in the Hutch fifth to end the game early on the mercy rule.  Lytle (0-1) shouldered the loss with four innings from the hill.

“Shade started the season off with a solid outing on the mound in the Andover game,” said coach Randy Beck.  “He was in the zone the whole game. We sat on a lead instead of extending it against Hutchinson,” he said. “If you erase the fifth inning of the second game, we made a lot of positive things happen. Both starting pitchers were good on the mound.

Great Bend starts the season at 1-1 and will face Liberal in the third game of a four-game road swing on April 7. First pitch is scheduled for 4 pm.