BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
MCPHERSON – After a hard-luck 6-3 baseball setback to Salina South, Great Bend pitcher Carson Umphres and hitter Ian Premer left nothing for granted Friday night.
Umphres fashioned a 5-inning no-hitter with nine strikeouts in a 12-0 rout over Junction City in the McPherson baseball quad. Premer doubled twice, tripled and drove home a career high five runs against Junction City.
Great Bend (18-6) maintains the fourth seed in 5A West baseball, which would insure a postseason home site. However, the Panthers face the probability of losing the fourth seed to Wichita-Kapaun-Carmel unless they sweep Manhattan on the road May 8.
PANTHERS 12, JUNCTION CITY 0 (G2) – Ace pitcher Umphres (6-1, 2.00 ERA) has struck out 60 batters in 49 innings.
Premer capped a 12-0 rout with a 3-run triple that scored J.J. Grove, Koehn Ribordy and Umphres in a 6-run third inning.
In a 5-run first inning, Premer delivered a 2-run double and Umphres and Hunter Herrman hit RBI singles. Owen Kaiser hit an RBI double in the Panthers 6-run third.
After 24 games, Premer is batting .470 (32 for 68) and Umphres is hitting .428 (30 for 70).
COUGARS 6, PANTHERS 3 (G1) – Salina South’s five baserunners who drew walks all scored runs in a hard-luck 6-3 Panther setback.
Kolton Herbel and Kaden Budke drew seventh-inning walks off Kaiser (3-3, 3.79 ERA). Brady Howard delivered an RBI single and Dawson Dooley drilled a 2-run single for a 6-3 lead.
The Panthers’ seventh-inning threat ended when Koehn Ribordy, who hit four line drives, hit into a game-ending double play.
Budke’s RBI double gave the Cougars (11-11) a 1-0 lead. Ribordy scored on Premer’s groundout and Umphreys scored on a balk for a 2-1 lead.
Herrman (5-2, 359 ERA) recorded two outs in the fifth, but back-to-back walks scored when Budke hit an RBI single. Howard scored when the Panthers misplayed a rundown on Budke.
Kaiser’s clutch RBI single scored Umphreys for a 3-3 tie after six innings.
Salina South 100 020 3 – 6 6 0
Great Bend 200 001 0 – 3 4 2
Bernhardt, Howard (6) and . Herrman, Kaiser (6) and Kaiser, (7). W—Howard. L—Kaiser. 2B—GB—Ribordy, Umphrey; SS—Budke.
Junction City 000 00 – 0 0 2
Great Bend 516 0x –12 12 0
Coy, Harris (23), Smith (3) and Tyson. Umphres and Kaiser. W—Umphres. L—Coy. 2B—GB—Premer 2, Umphres, Kaiser, Oelger. 3B—GB—Premer.
ELLINWOOD INVITATIONAL
5A WEST—1—Andover Central 18-4; 2—Maize South 17-4; 3—Wichita Carroll 18-5; 4—Great Bend 18-6; 5—Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 17-7; 6—Topeka Seaman 14-6, 7—Andover High 15-9; 8—Hays High 13-8; 9—Hutchinson 13-9; 10—Goddard 13-9; 11—Goddard Eisenhower 10-8; 12—Salina South 11-11; 13—Newton 9-13; 14—Emporia 8-13; 15—Salina Central 7-16; 16—Arkansas City 5-18; 17—Valley Center 4-21; 18—Topeka West 2-16
