GIRARD, Kan. — Frontenac baseball improved to 13-3 overall and finished CNC League play 11-1 after sweeping host Girard on Monday night in a battle of state-ranked teams at Red Wutke Park.

The Raiders won the opener 3-2 as their duo Kale Coomes and Grant Nickle outdueled Girard's Kam Smith and Robbie Bruning and then won the nightcap 9-3 behind a seven-run outburst in the sixth inning.

Frontenac earned a league title outright and won 11 straight league games following a 10-1 loss to St. Mary's Colgan in the opener March 23. The Raiders beat Colgan in the second game (3-2) and swept Galena (16-1, 11-1), Riverton (15-0, 13-3), Baxter Springs (3-2, 3-1) and Columbus (22-11, 11-0) in addition to the Trojans.

The Raiders have won three straight entering Thursday's game at Blue Valley Southwest.

Girard fell to 17-5 overall and 8-4 CNC, and bring a three-game losing streak into Thursday's game against Prairie View.

Girard and Frontenac were ranked No. 1 and No. 8 in Class 3A entering the week.

Coomes earned the win in the opener, allowing two runs (both unearned and both in the first inning) on one hit with five strikeouts and two walks over five innings. Nickle came in and closed the door dramatically on Girard in the sixth and seventh, recording four strikeouts, no walks and no runs on no hits.

Smith took the loss with three runs allowed (two earned) on four hits and 10 strikeouts and two walks over 6 1/3 innings. Bruning picked up the last two outs.

Brock Wiemers led off the game with a triple and scored on a Coomes bunt single.

Girard's two-out rally in the first began when Aiden Ashbacher worked a five-pitch walk from Coomes. Then, Ashbacher and Bruning scored on errors to allow Girard a 2-1 lead after one.

Both teams settled in defensively for the most part and the Raiders broke the scoreless pattern with single runs in the fifth and sixth giving them a lead back.

Jack Spear and Jaxon Varsolona reached on an error and a hit by pitch, respectively, and Spear eventually scored on a Wiemers sacrifice fly.

The Raiders took the lead when Jake Murphy worked a two-out walk and rounded the bases on Gunner Horyna's double.

pitchers combined to allow only five hits all game; Coomes allowed only a single to Jaxton Smith leading off the fourth, but he was subsequently picked off at first.

Both teams picked up the hitting in the nightcap, combining for 17 hits (Frontenac 9, Girard 8) with four doubles and four home runs, including two by Girard catcher Blake Brokob.

Brokob's two-run homer in the second and his solo shot in the fourth staked Girard to a 3-1 lead before Frontenac's late rally.

Wiemers hit a solo home run in the fifth and Jake Wegner's three-run homer to center in the sixth closed out the scoring in dramatic fashion.

Wiemers earned the win in long relief with one run (earned) on four hits and three strikeouts and no walks over five innings.

Schultz took the loss with five runs (four earned) on seven hits and six strikeouts and three walks over 5 1/3 innings.

Frontenac 100 011 0 — 3 4 3

Girard 200 000 0 — 2 1 2

Kam Smith, Robbie Bruning (7) and Blake Brokob; Kale Coomes, Grant Nickle (6) and Kane Mjelde. W: Coomes. L: Smith. SV: Nickle. 2B—FHS: Gunner Horyna. 3B—FHS: Brock Wiemers.

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Frontenac 001 017 0 — 9 9 0

Girard 020 100 0 — 3 8 2

Kolton Burns, Brock Wiemers (3) and Kane Mjelde; Bryor Schultz, Briggs Buckingham (6), Jaxton Smith (6) and Blake Brokob. W: Wiemers. L: Schultz. 2B—FHS: Wiemers, Gunner Horyna, Jack Spear, Jaxon Varsolona. HR—FHS: Wiemers, Jake Wegner; GHS: Brokob 2.

This sports reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/fund/support-local-journalism-project-fund/