BY BRETT MARSHALL
When Michael Stettinger assumed the coaching duties for the Great Bend High School baseball program, he knew there would be challenges.
The Panthers (21-5, 11-2 WAC) graduated key players from a 5A state runner-up baseball team.
“I’ve always been a small ball type of baseball guy, so that was our plan,” said Stettinger, who guided the 2026 Panthers to an 18-11 record, a 9-3 record to capture the WAC championship.
Three postseason wins led them to the 5A state semifinals where they came up short against eventual champion St. Thomas Aquinas, 4-0. Great Bend shocked No. 1 seed Salina Central, 5-1 in the semifinals.
The WAC championship was the eighth outright for the Panthers, and they've shared six other crowns with Hays High.
“I knew we didn’t have guys with a lot of power, so we had to change our mindset on how we were going to play,” Stettinger said. “We needed singles, moving runners, stolen bases and bunts to score our runs.”
Statistics prove Stettinger’s methodology as the Panthers averaged 5.2 runs while giving up 4.4 runs per game.
“We had 11 games that were decided by three runs or less,” Stettinger said. “We knew we didn’t have Ian Premer coming back after his basketball injury, so we had younger, inexperienced players. They didn’t have a lot of power, so we had to find ways to manufacture runs.”
Stettinger was fortunate to still have a few veterans on the team, including senior pitcher/shortstop Daxton Minton, who was named WAC Player of the Year.
“He was our leadoff guy and did a great job,” Stettinger said of the 4-year starter who batted .411 this season. “We did some hit-and-run, but did more bunting to move runners around. The guys did a great job laying down bunts. Often, we’d lay down a bunt, and the defense would throw the ball away.”
Stettinger had been at Great Bend long enough to remember the seasons where the Panthers were contenders in the postseason nearly every year. In the late 2010s, however, the program lost some of its aura.
“In the last five years we’ve gotten back to that mindset and built that culture back to compete in the postseason,” Stettinger said.
In his 15 seasons with the Panthers, Stettinger served as an assistant for 14 of them.
“Our head coach Randy Beck left us in a great spot,” Stettinger said. “Our players bought into the small-ball concept. Basically, you’re doing the same things correctly every single time. We run the bases all the time and play 100 percent on every pitch.”
The 12-game WAC schedule, which is spaced over the months of April and early May, allows teams to play teams from other geographic areas.
“It’s a good balance to get a gauge of our overall season,” Stettinger said. “The WAC is kind of a steppingstone to the postseason. The bonus is that we usually see one or two good pitchers from each team.”
Stettinger said he could always rely on his players to give their best effort and lauded the upperclassmen who provided leadership to the freshmen and sophomores.
“We had Trenton Kern, Jaxon Wondra, Rafael Chavez and Koehn Ribordy who all played pivotal roles,” Stettinger said. “Our young players came along and were keys for our success.”
In the 5A regional, the Panthers trailed Andover Central, 1-0, in the sixth inning, but Kale Kern came up with a big hit to enable them to rally for a 2-1 triumph.
In the regional final, Stettinger pitched Jason Wondra and Chavez to combine for a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over Andover.
“I don’t think I’ve been in a game where we used two pitchers who ended up with a no-hitter,” Stettinger said. “It was really special for us.”
That set the stage for the 5A quarterfinals against Salina Central, which had a 26-2 record entering the contest.
“I will always remember the season for how our team showed a lot of mental toughness, resilience and never giving up,” Stettinger said. “It was a fun season to coach.”
DAXTON MINTON, WAC Player of the Year
It only seemed inevitable that Daxton Minton would one day be a standout baseball player.
After all, his father, Mike, and his mother, Carrie, had been baseball and softball players at Great Bend High School. They served as coaches with the Panther softball and baseball teams as well as summer travel teams.
His mom served as the head softball coach for 15 years (2011-2025) and was an assistant from 2000 to 2004. His dad also had been the softball coach for the Panthers while adding in volleyball to his resume.
“They preached to me a lot about hard work and being a good leader,” Minton said of his parents. “They taught me was if I wanted to be great, then I needed to train like I’m great. That has stuck with me.”
Minton capped off his senior year for the Panthers by being one of the driving forces in leading them to the Western Athletic Conference championship (9-3) and then on to a third-place finish in the Class 5A state playoffs.
The day the Panthers’ season ended, a 4-0 loss to eventual 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas, Minton was informed by his coach, Michael Stettinger, of the WAC Player of the Year honor.
“It’s an awesome feeling to know that a lot of hard work paid off,” Minton said. “After we lost to Aquinas, when coach told me, and honestly, I was shocked. I’m not going to lie, it was unexpected.”
Minton delivered for the Panthers both as pitcher, a shortstop and at the plate.
He pitched 52 innings, compiling a record of 5-2 including one save and had a team-best 2.69 earned-run-average. He recorded 64 strikeouts while walking 25 batters. In 62 fielding chances, four errors translated to a .935 percentage.
Minton's .411 batting average led off the lineup. He was the one that Stettinger could count on to get runners on base and then into scoring position.
Of his 39 hits, 34 were singles with two doubles and three triples. He scored a team leading 29 runs with 17 bases.
“Dax was going to be our No. 1 pitcher because he had pitched in every big game for us the last couple of seasons,” Stettinger said. “He’s one of the best competitors I’ve coached. Mentally, he is a great leader, and he loves to compete. In the big game, he wants the ball in his hands. He’s not scared of big moments.
Perhaps that also is why he quarterbacked the successful football team for four years and was a starting guard for the Panthers’ basketball squad.
“My speed helped a lot when I got on base,” Minton said. “I had something like 14 bunts for hits and with Coach wanting us to play small ball, that’s what I needed to do – do the little things.”
Minton credited his teammates, both the upper- and lower-class players, for his success.
“It was the first year of varsity for a lot of our guys, and they all played great,” Minton said. “The seniors provided leadership by leading by example.”
Minton is committed to staying at home and playing baseball at Barton Community College next season.
He said he will both pitch and play in the field in the fall when community colleges play what amounts to spring training. In the spring when the conference schedule heats up, he sees himself more as a pitcher.
“Definitely pitching is my stronger area,” Minton said. “I’ll continue to work hard to improve in all areas.”
WAC FIRST TEAM
GREAT BEND—P/SS Daxton Minton, 12; P/C Jaxon Wondra, 11; 3B/C Trenton Kern, 12
HAYS P/SS—Brett Rhoades, 12
GARDEN CITY—P/SS Jakobe Rathbun, 11; P/OF Drew Strecker, 11
DODGE CITY—P/Utility Kyson Bogner, 10; Utility Liam Torrez, 11
LIBERAL—C Blayden Betts, 12
PLAYER OF YEAR—Daxton Minton, Great Bend
COACH OF YEAR—Michael Stettinger, Great Bend
WAC SECOND TEAM
GREAT BEND—P/2B Rafael Chavez, 11; P/OF Koehn Ribordy, 12
HAYS—C Jace Dreher, 10; IF Kai Lonsdale, 12
DODGE CITY—1B Max Gonzales, 11; C Reis Ochs, 10
LIBERAL—Utility Ethan Olmstead, 10
WAC BASEBALL
Great Bend 9-3 18-11
Hays High 8-4 11-13
Dodge City 6-6 10-15
Garden City 5-7 11-16
Liberal 2-10 9-18
