BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

HAYS — Great Bend's baseball team picked a perfect time for Home Run Derby against its rival Hays High.

The Panthers pounded out four homers to sweep the Indians 15-3 and 7-3 in Tuesday's Western Athletic Conference doubleheader.

The Panthers' top two pitchers Daxton Minton (1-0, 1.78 ERA) and hard-throwing Jaxon Wondra (4-0, 2.28 ERA) combined to yield five earned runs.

Great Bend (7-3, 4-2 WAC) required a sweep to remain in WAC title contention with Garden City (8-4, 5-1 WAC). Hays drops to 2-8, 2-4 WAC.

PANTHERS 15, HAYS 3 (G1) — Pitcher Minton fanned four batters and has struck out 27 batters in 192/3 innings.

Kale Kern set an aggressive tone with a 3-run first inning homer keyed by a friendly southerly wind.

Koehn Ribordy's grand slam homer fueled a 5-run fourth inning.

Kale Kern's 3-run blast followed RBI doubles by Koehn Ribordy and Trent Kern for a 5-0 lead. Jaxon Wondra's RBI double scored Ribordy for a 6-1 lead.

Jaxon Wondra scored on an error following Ribordy's grand slam for an 11-3 lead.

Gavin Wondra and Keito Richter scored on an error and Rafael Chavez's 2-run double wrapped up the run-rule victory.

Hays' Paxton Shaw ripped a 2-run homer.

PANTHERS 7, HAYS 3 (G2) — Jaxon Wondra struck out six batters and has recorded 22 strikeouts in 151/3 innings. Reliever Rafael Chavez earned a save and recorded two sixth-inning outs to preserve a 5-2 lead.

Trent Kern busted open a 1-run game with a 3-run blast that scored Ribordy and Jaxon Wondra in a 4-run fifth inning. Minton scored on Jaxon Wondra's double for a 2-1 lead.

Carter Dreiling's 2-run homer scored Kale Kern for two valuable seventh-inning insurance runs for a 7-2 lead.

Hays scored its first run on an error. Kaleb Roe scored on Jarek Purdy's sacrifice fly. Kal Lonsdale scored on a Panther error.

Great Bend 510 54 — 15 13 2

Hays 102 00 — 3 3 1

Minton and Trent Kern. Rhoades, Sloan (5) and Dreher. W—Minton, 1-0. L—Rhoades. 2B—GB—Jaxon Wondra, Ribordy, Chavez, T. Kern; H—Lonsdale. HR—GB—Kale Kern, Ribordy; H—Shaw.

Great Bend 010 040 2 — 7 10 2

Hays 001 001 1 — 3 7 2

J. Wondra, Chavez (6) and T. Kern. Shaw, Dreiling (6) and Dreher. W—J. Wondra, 3-0. L—Shaw. SV—Chavez. 2B—GB—J. Wondra, Chavez; H—Lonsdale. HR—GB—T. Kern, Dreiling.

WAC BASEBALL

Garden City 5-1 8-4

Great Bend 4-2 7-3

Hays High 2-4 2-8

Dodge City 1-2 3-5

Liberal 0-2 4-6

4-14—Great Bend 15-7, Hays 3-3

4-17—Garden City at Manhattan; Wichita Carroll vs. Great Bend; Dodge City at Junction City; Liberal vs. Woodward, Okla.