Great Bend's baseball team escaped a classic "trap game," against Liberal with a hard-earned 3-1 victory Tuesday at the Great Bend Sports Complex. 

Crafty Liberal pitcher Skylar Hubbard kept the Panthers off balance with a perfect mix of off-speed deliveries. The Panthers failed to square up the baseball with 14 fly ball outs.

Panther lefthander Koehn Ribordy (1.44 ERA, 92/3 innings) matched Hubbard with five no-hit innings in a brilliant 69-pitch effort against Liberal (6-13, 2-4 WAC) in the Western Athletic Conference baseball game.

Panther Trenton Kern singled home Daxton Minton for a third-inning run. Liberal's Landon Martinez scored on a sixth-inning wild pitch for a 1-1 tie. Reliever Minton stranded runners at third and second with a clutch strikeout and a groundout.

Great Bend had four outs left when good fortune smiled on the Panthers.

Ribordy and Jaxon Wondra delivered 2-out sixth-inning singles. The Panthers received a break when Liberal shortstop Kye Morris misplayed Slade Mohr's groundball scoring Ribordy and pinch runner Caleb Shell for a 3-1 lead.

Minton (4-1, 3,00 ERA) struck out two batters in a perfect 1-2-3 seventh inning.

The No. 4 ranked 5A Panthers (14-4, 6-2 WAC) play Dodge City (7-10, 2-5 WAC) at home Friday.

Liberal 000 001 0 — 1 2 1

Great Bend 001 002 x — 3 7 2

Hubbard and Betts. Ribordy, Minton (6) and Wondra. W—Minton, 4-1. L—Hubbard.