Buffs Lose Both Games to Word of Life

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) Garden City baseball coach Bill Wilson said “this might be the best team we play all year” prior to Thursday’s doubleheader against Word of Life.  He was not kidding.

Word of Life (27-7) scored a total of 33 runs over the two games and besides getting into a slugfest with Garden City (7-13) in the first two innings of game two, easily swept the doubleheader 16-3 and 17-8.

 Game One Highlights

In the first game, the Fire scored first on a RBI single from Myron Johnson.  Garden City quickly answered back when Thomas Solorio’s knocked in Mitch Hernandez tying up the game at one in the first.  The Fire added four more in the second off Ivan Gutierrez which included a two run double from Jazz Chisholm.  In the fifth Pedro Dean brought in two with a double before he was left at third.  The relief team of Daven Acker and Mitch Hernandez allowed eight runs in the seventh turning a manageable 8-3 deficit into a 16-3 blowout.

Game Two Highlights

The second game started with a lot of offense, but in the end the Buffaloes could not keep up.  Word of Life open up with a three run first off GC starting pitcher Mario Montoya.  Garden City did them one run better in the bottom of the first after a dropped fly ball from Myron Johnson scored the first run.  Solorio added a RBI single, Marcus Zapata RBI triple and Gutierrez Sac-Fly. 

Word of Life added another four runs to take a 7-4 lead in the second capped off with a two-run single from Myron Johnson.  Thomas Solorio came on to relieve Montoya and get the final out of the second.  Garden City’s spark in the bottom of the second came from a solo homer off the bat of Mitch Hernandez that barely cleared the wall in right center.  Gutierrez clubbed a two run double and a wild pitch from Jack Halloran made it 8-7 Buffaloes.

Little did everyone realize that would be Garden City’s last lead.  Over the next two innings Word of Life scored eight runs and never looked back.  Chisholm had a two-run triple.  Johnson, Noah Roberts and Pedro Dean had RBI singles.  After a two-run double from Julio Ibarra in the fourth and Sac-Fly from Johnson it was 15-8 Fire and ended up 17-8.  Halloran who struggled so early on the mound allowed only three hits over the next four innings preventing Garden City’s offense from keeping pace.

Garden City wraps up the regular season on the road at Wichita Southeast and should know by Saturday where they will go for regionals.