BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

WICHITA — The Great Bend Bat Cats apparently left their bats back home.

The Liberal Bee Jays shut out Great Bend 7-0 Sunday to extend the Bat Cats NBC scoreless streak to 16 innings.

The Bat Cats are batting .154 (8 for 52) with four double plays.

Great Bend (24-12) faces a win-or-go home game Tuesday against Shawnee's Between the Lines. The Bat Cats (0-2, -15 runs) must beat BTL (1-1, -11) by three runs to guarantee a bracket spot.

The Liberal/Great Bend showdown turned on a pair of bases-loaded situations.

The Bat Cats loaded the bases against pitcher Brooks Kappelmann with a single and two walks. But Jaxon Bunkers struck out and Chase Kessler grounded into a tailor-made second-inning double play.

When Liberal's Cole Manuel saw a 2-0 fastball after three consecutive walks, he blasted a grand slam homer off Bat Cats reliever Jackson Thompson for a 4-0 lead.

Thompson control quickly vanished after being called for ball 3 on a pitch-clock violation. He proceeded to walk three consecutive batters before delivering a room-service fastball to Manuel.

Great Bend's other threat ended after Walker Wakeland and Chase Chapman delivered fourth-inning singles. Kappelmann retired Bunkers on a 2-out fly ball.

Great Bend lacked patience at the plate with a pair of 6-pitch innings. Through 16 innings, the Bat Cats are batting 3-for-16 with runners on base.

Great Bend pitchers gift wrapped Liberal's seven runs with five walks and a hit batter who scored runs.

Liberal 000 040 300 — 7 5 0

Great Bend 000 000 000 — 0 4 0

Kappelmann, Whipple (6) and Adams. Alarid, Thompson (5), Murphy (6), Bekedam (7) and Kessler. W—Kappelmann. L—Thompson, 0-1. 2B—L—Rojas. HR—L—Manuel.

NBC BATTING (8-52)

.667—Wakeland, 2-3; .333—Chavira, 1-3; .200—Chapman, 1-5; .167—Orth, 1-6; Owens, 1-6; Jewell, 1-6; .143—Shaw, 1-7; .000—McCarroll, 0-2; Kessler, 0-3; Benz, 0-3; Brazzle, 0-3; Bunkers, 0-5.

NBC POOLS Q (qualifier)

POOL A—Q Lonestar Baseball 2-1 (17-19), Q Hutchinson Monarchs 2-1 (30-16), Q Seattle Blackfins 1-2 (14-25), TPA Texas 1-2 (21-22)

POOL B—Q Junction City Brigade 3-0 (28-7), Q Austin Gold Sox 2-1 (21-21), Q Seattle Cheney Studs 1-2 (22-27), Oklahoma Lookouts 0-3 (10-26)

POOL C—Q Santa Barbara Foresters 3-0 (28-2), Q Between The Lines Hornets 2-1 (14-24), Q Liberal Bee Jays 1-2 (14-14), Great Bend Bat Cats 0-3 (6-22)

POOL D—Q Alaska Goldpanners 3-0 (17-5); Q Hays Larks 2-1 (21-15), Q Tess’s Army 1-2 (9-11); San Diego Stars 0-3 (5-21)

NBC WORLD SERIES

7-2—CHAMPIONSHIP—Santa Barbara (Calif.) Foresters vs Alaska Goldpanners

7-1—SEMIFINALS—Santa Barbara 7, Junction City Brigade 0; Alaska 9, Lonestar (Texas) Baseball 1

6-30—QUARTERFINALS—Santa Barbara 6, Austin Gold Sox 0; Junction City 10, Seattle Blackfins 9; Alaska 7, Hutchinson Monarchs 4; Lonestar Baseball, 5, Seattle Cheney Studs 4

6-29—FIRST ROUND—Noon—Austin Gold Sox 3, Tess's Army 2; Seattle Blackfins 3, BTL Hornets 1; Hutchinson Monarchs 2, Liberal Bee Jays 1; Seattle Cheney Studs 8, Hays Larks 3

6-28—Tess's Army 4, San Diego Stars 0; BTL Hornets 7, Great Bend 6; Alaska 8, Hays Larks 3; Santa Barbara 7, Liberal 2

6-27—Junction City 9, Austin Gold Sox 1; TPA Texas 11, Lonestar Baseball 6; Seattle Cheney Studs 9, Oklahoma Lookouts 5; Hutchinson 15, Seattle Blackfins 5

6-25—Hays Larks 11, San Diego Stars 3; Alaska Goldpanners 3, Tess's Army 1; Hutchinson 10, TPA Texas 5; Lonestar Texas 5, Seattle Blackfins 3

6-24—Seattle Blackfins 6, TPA Texas 5; Between the Lines Hornets 7, Liberal 5; Santa Barbara Foresters 8, Great Bend 0; Junction City Brigade 7, Oklahoma Lookouts 0

6-23—Lonestar Baseball 6, Hutchinson 5; Austin Gold Sox 10, Seattle Cheney Studs 7