Busters Fall Short to Frank Phillips 6-5

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) Just a day after beating Frank Phillips 7-4 in Borger, Texas the return trip to Garden City was not as successful.  The Broncbusters (21-10) committed four errors and left twelve on base including the bases loaded twice in a 6-5 loss to Frank Phillips (8-17) at Williams Stadium.  The two teams split the season series at one win each.

Game Highlights 

It did not take long for Frank Phillips to get the early lead.  Frankie Alvarez threw wildly to third on a bunt attempt from third baseman Chad Brown.  Luis Amaro added a Sac-Fly to push across the second run and make it a 2-0 lead for Frank Phillips.

Garden City tied it up with a RBI single from Kyle Lopez and bases loaded walk to Patrick Mixon.  The Broncbusters grabbed a short lived 3-2 lead on a double steal of second and after Plainsman catcher Johnny Baiada threw to second in an attempt to gun down Frankie Alvarez, Kadin Hydrick made the dash home giving the Broncbusters a 3-2 lead.

Tyler Franek started for Garden City on the mound and did well, but his defense could not shore up his performance.  Plainsman second baseman Tyler Franz reached on an error from shortstop Brennan Cascio to begin the inning. Franez scored on a two out single from Joey Silvas to tie up the game at 3-3.

Frank Phillips pulled ahead for good with two runs in the fourth on a RBI double from Franez and Brown’s RBI single.  After Garden City closed the deficit to one in the bottom of the fourth,  Frank Phillips regained their two run advantage on Ethan Hillyer’s RBI double.  

Garden City’s offense just could not cash in on opportunities.  Brooks Mixon scored on Patrick Mixon’s RBI double in the fifth, but with the bases loaded Plainsman reliever Jason Lotte forced Hydrick to pop up a bunt that was handled by first baseman Brian Canida on a great diving catch to end the inning.  

Tanner Karpinski pitched great in relief for Franek. Franek set down the last five he faced and Karpinski picked up working a perfect seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The Broncbusters pitching kept them in it, while Garden City left on five over the last three innings including the potential tying and winning runs on in the ninth when Cascio was struck out by Ryo Takenaka.  For Takenaka it was his first save of the year.

Garden City does not have much time to figure out what went wrong.  The Broncbusters tied for first with Dodge City in the Jayhawk West get ready for a big road trip to Butler this weekend.  The Grizzlies entered the four game series just a game behind both Garden and Dodge in the division standings.  Pre-game coverage Saturday begins at 2:45 on westernkansasnews.com.

GCCC Coach Chris Finnegan Post-game Comments