BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
The swan song for Great Bend baseball coach Randy Beck has delivered mixed feelings. Beck's sixth trip as a head baseball coach will wind down his legendary coaching career.
"When we started the season, I told the guys, 'let's end on a good note,' Beck said. "It's tough. I've been thinking about it a lot."
The Panthers (23-5) will play Kansas City Piper (17-10) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the 5A state baseball tournament at Wichita State. The Panthers played a high-level non-league schedule that included a 2-0 loss to defending 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas.
"We'll take it one game at a time, but we're going in with confidence," said Beck. "Every team is good and you can't take anything for granted. It's tough to get to a state championship game and it's hard to win. We'll go with a vengeance and with an attitude that we'll take Game 1,"
All-state pitcher/outfielder Carson Umphres (7-1, 1.65 ERA) and Hunter Herrman (5-1, 1.85 ERA) headline the pitching staff. Starter/reliever Daxton Minton (7-1, 2.65) has been effective in relief.
Umphres (.450, 34 RBI), Ian Premer (.438, 31 R), Minton (.405, 28 R) and Koehn Ribordy (.402) headline a competitive batting lineup.
"Some of our guys have matured, and our team chemistry is better," Beck said. "Everybody is locked in. I like what's going on because our guys are pulling for each other."
Beck expects to face KC Piper sophomore lefthanded pitcher Dylan Eikenbary (6-1, 1.45 ERA) with an 86 mph fastball. Eikenbary has 63 strikeouts in 431/3 innings. Piper junior shortstop Myles Ross is verbally committed to Texas Tech.
PANTHER PITCHING—Umphres 8-2, 1.48 ERA; 14 ER-66 1/3 IP; 66 K/66 1/3 IP; Herrman 5-1, 1.85 ERA; 10 ER-37 2/3 IP; Minton 7-1, 2.65 ERA; 10 ER-29 IP; Kaiser 2-0, 2.52 ERA; Mohr 1-1, 3.50 ERA; Ribordy 1-0, 3.40 ERA; 10 ER-16 IP; Oelger 0-0, 0.00 ERA
PANTHER BATTING—Umphres .450, 36-80; 44 R, 34 RBI, 7-2B, 3-3B, 5-HR; Premer .438, 32-73; 31 R, 21 RBI, 7-2B, 3-3B; Minton .405, 32-79; 28 R, 23 RBI, 5-2B, 1-3B; Ribordy .402, 35-87; 21 R, 28 RBI, 3-2B, 2-3B; Wondra .303; 23-76; 18 RBI; 2-2B; Kern, .301; 25-83; 16 R, 26 RBI, 4-2B, 1-HR; Schartz .273, 6-22; 12 R, 3 RBI; Herrman .267, 12-45, 6 RBI; Kaiser .257, 18-70; 7 R, 2-2B, 1-HR, 15 RBI; Mohr .254, 17-67; 22 R, 16 RBI.
