Broncbusters bounce back with pair of home wins over Trinidad

Garden City, KS-After suffering a pair of losses on Friday at Trinidad 7-4, 4-3 Garden City team out with a sole purpose to play better on Sunday in their home opening games.  They were able to do that with timely hitting and good pitching to win both contests 5-1 and 6-5.

In the first game, Garden City (2-2) gave up the first run when pitcher Austin Stone chased down the trail runner on the back end of a double steal.  The confusion allowed Alex Bedard to score from third and give the Trojans a 1-0 lead.

Stone, making his Broncbuster debut, rolled through five innings, giving up two hits and one run, while striking out six and walking one.  He had some offensive support with a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and fifth.  Third baseman Alex Nielsen had an RBI double and Jess Gonzalez pounded a single to score another run giving the Broncbusters a 2-1 lead.

Aeneas Roberson and Nielsen added RBI singles in the fifth inning.  Brennan Geraghty and Trojan reliever Javis Steward each gave up two runs on two hits, while Niko Guzman served up a RBI single to Billy Clark in the sixth.

Ray Monje finished up the seventh inning in a non-save situation retiring the bottom third of the Trinidad lineup to seal up the win.

In game two, Garden jumped out to a lead in the second on Shane Podsednik's two-run single scoring both Rafael Villela and Billy Clark.  Nielsen would score one inning later to pad Garden City's lead to 3-0 on a throwing error by third baseman Michel Dagenais.

Connor Reynolds then cracked a two-run single in the fourth off Parker Valentine to centerfield and the Broncbusters jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

The Broncbusters went scoreless over the next two innings, and that drop in the offense open the way for Trinidad State (2-2) to tie up the game.

Garden City reliever Michael Sweetman gave up two unearned runs in the fifth on Alec Patterson's RBI single and a Sac-Fly from catcher Antonie Major.  The reason that both runs were unearned were because second baseman Clint Allen committed a throwing error to begin the inning, allowing shortstop Herman Alvarado to reach base.

Dagenais added an RBI single off Broncbuster reliever A.J. Stephens to pull to within 5-3 and then a deep drive by Dagenais one inning later was caught by Roberson, but advanced two runners tying the game at five in the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh the Broncbusters took back the lead for good, but it took a little two out magic.  Alex Eskridge doubled to left off Trojans' reliever Donavin Buck and the next batter Villela, lined a deep drive to left and Patterson fell down in trying to catch the ball.  The defensive miscue was ruled a triple and allowed Eskridge to score the go ahead run.

Quinton Bonnell and Monje came in to slam the door on Trinidad STate in the eighth and ninth.  Monje, making his second appearance of the day, issued a one out walk to Brock Anderson.  Jaybrien Estevez pinch ran and stole second, but Monje was not fazed as he struck out back to back batters for his seventh collegiate save to end the game.

Garden City (2-2) is back in action Wednesday with a nine inning game against McCook.  First pitch is at 1pm from Williams Stadium.