ANDALE, Kan. — The Andale/Garden Plain baseball team needed one win in its final regular-season doubleheader against Pratt on Thursday to lock into the No. 6 seed for regionals next week.
Andale/Garden Plain handed Pratt its fifth loss of the year with an 8-2 victory in game one. Pratt bounced back in game two with a 5-run fourth inning in a 12-9 victory to split the series.
Game 1: Andale/Garden Plain 8, Pratt 2
Andale/Garden Plain never gave up the lead in the game, starting off with an RBI triple by Noah Stanley in the first inning. Jared Flax’s 2-run single in the second made it 3-0. Greyson Winter’s RBI triple and Elijah Durham’s RBI single made it 5-0 in the third. In the fourth, Easton Rieger had an RBI single, followed by a bases-loaded walk by Winter and a sacrifice fly by Nolan Pfannenstiel, making it 8-0. The Greenbacks scored both of their runs over the final two innings.
Blake Winter earned the win on the mound in relief, going four innings, allowing one run on six hits and six strikeouts. Austin Bugner went 3-for-4 at the plate.
Game 2: Pratt 12, Andale/Garden Plain 9
Pratt took the lead in the first before Andale/Garden Plain responded with three runs, an RBI single by Easton Linnens, and a 2-run triple from Cruz Kaiser. Pratt knotted things at 3 in the second, before Andale/Garden Plain took the lead right back with four runs, on a fielder’s choice by Linnens, an RBI single by Rieger, and a 2-run double by Kaiser. Pratt made it 7-4 in the third before Andale/Garden Plain made it 8-4 on an RBI double by Noah Stanley. Pratt scored five in the fourth and never looked back. The Greenbacks added one in the fifth and two in the sixth. Pfannenstiel drove in the game’s final run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly.
Kaiser went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs. Caleb Stuhlsatz took the loss in relief, going 1 ⅔ innings, allowing five runs on six hits and three strikeouts.
Andale/Garden Plain (15-11) will be the No. 6 seed in regionals and travel to McPherson on Tuesday. Projected teams in the 4-team pod with Andale/Garden Plain as of Friday morning will be McPherson as the No. 3, Circle as the No. 11, and Buhler as the No. 14. Andale/Garden Plain would face Circle first, and a win would put them in the regional championship game against the winner between McPherson and Buhler. Andale/Garden Plain split regular-season doubleheaders against Circle on April 27 and Buhler on May 4, while the Bullpups swept Andale/Garden Plain on April 13. Official pairings and game times will be announced by KSHSAA on Saturday.
