Busters split with Greyhounds; winner to Wichita Sunday
Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Saturday’s doubleheader between Garden City and Fort Scott saw both teams rally time after time. When you would think one team had the game in their favor, the other team would rally. Both teams rallied to take the lead or win in their final at bat, forcing a winner take all game on Sunday. Garden City walked off in the first game 10-9, while Fort Scott scored three runs in the top of the ninth to win 10-9.
In Saturday’s first game, Garden City took a 3-0 lead after the opening inning, only to see Fort Scott rally to score then next five runs of the game in the second through fourth innings. The Busters would score a run to pull to within 5-4 after four innings. However, the Greyhounds would open up the game with three runs in the fifth to lead 8-4. That’s when Garden City would slowly chip away. The Busters eventually tied the game up at 8 after seven innings. Fort Scott would get a solo home run to take a 9-8 lead from Jacob Biller. Garden City came back with a run in the bottom of the eighth and in the bottom of the ninth, Jacob Gonzales would double off the wall in left center field with two outs to drive in Sean Kennedy to give the Busters the 10-9 win. Stephen Pagendarm got the win, pitching the final two innings of game one for the win. Noah Draper struck out eight and gave up seven runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Kyle Lopez drove in three runs,a nd Alex Nielson had three of Garden City’s 15 hits in game one. The Busters left 16 on base in the first game. Boby Johnson pitched two innings and took the loss for Fort Scott. They had three solo home runs in the first game, as Danny Crews drove in three runs.
In game two, Garden City scored all their runs in two innings. Fort Scott took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the second, when the Busters scored five runs. The Greyhounds would come back with a run in the third and take a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the fifth, after Nick Banman hit his second home run of the game, a two run home run. Garden City responded in the bottom of the fifth with four runs on five hits to take a 9-6 lead, as Alex Nielson and Mason Brown drove in runs for the Busters. Fort Scott Added a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh, and tied the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI double down the left field line by Andrew Tanous. Gabe Franklin had an RBI single that drove in Tanous to give the Greyhounds the 10-9 lead, and their bullpen would only give up one hit in the bottom of the ninth to force a game three on Sunday. For Garden City, Connor Burns pitched five innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and had five strikeouts. Tyler Franek took the loss as he gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings on just 36 pitches. Kyle Lopez had three of Garden City’s 15 hits in game two. Nick Sloan picked up the win, pitching two scoreless innings for Fort Scott, and Nick Banman recorded the save. Tanous drove in four runs and he scored three runs of his own, and Banman drove in three runs on three hits.
Garden City is 42-14, while Fort Scott is 37-20 heading into Sunday’s 1 pm first pitch. The winner will take on Cowley, who defeated Butler 11-1 and 15-0. So far Neosho County, Kansas City, KS, Cowley and Coffeyville have advanced to Wichita. Coffeyville upset the No. 2 overall seed Colby on Saturday, with wins of 4-3 and 9-3.
Coach Chris Finnegan
