Butler's big first inning dooms Garden City

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

El Dorado, KS-Butler is putting up video-game numbers in their home stadium. And that didn't stop on Saturday.

Thomas Beiswanger drilled two homers, the Grizzlies hit a season-best five long balls, and Butler blew out Garden City 19-6 in the series finale at McDonald's Stadium.

"It was just not a good day; nothing went right for us," Head Coach Chris Finnegan said. "It was just tough all the way around."

The Grizzlies have already had some memorable offensive moments this season. They clawed back from an 8-0 deficit to beat Des Moines Area 30-13. On Saturday, there was no need for a comeback. This time, they put the game away right from the start.

Rhett Halstead, who watched as shoulder problems prematurely ended his 2019 campaign, never made it out of the first. The first seven men he faced reach base, which included Brandon Ryan, who clubbed a monster three-run homer to right. Later in the inning, Dylan Werries promptly ended the freshman's conference debut by doubling home two, giving Butler a 9-0 lead.

"You give up a nine spot in the first, and it was a little deflating," Finnegan explained. "But it was still early."

The Grizzlies first-inning stat line: nine runs on nine hits while sending 13 guys to the plate. It lasted a little more than a half an hour.

"We did a nice job chipping our way back into the game, and then we gave it right back," Finnegan said. "That was the story."

Indeed it was.

Garden City scored a run in the second then surrendered it right back in the bottom half. In the third, the Grizzlies added four more runs fueled by Beiswanger's three-run bomb to left-center that put the home team up 14-1.

"I thought we swung the bats well enough to produce some runs," Finnegan said. "We just missed a lot of opportunities today where balls had a chance to leave the yard but never did."

The Broncbuster offense sprung to life in the fourth. Colin Stone hit his second homer of the series, Barber tripled home Darrian Escobar-Winter, and Kyle Jameson stroked an RBI base hit. But Butler starter Zach Chiolis turned off the faucet from there, getting Dakota Finley to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play.

"They score nine runs, then we get back in the game with five and immediately give it back; that was frustrating," Finnegan said.

Butler wasted no time blowing up the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Austin Portner homered for the second time in the series, ripping a two-run blast to left to make it 18-6.

"We just have to learn from this," Finnegan said. "Guys will watch what we did today. But the good thing is that they know what they did wrong. Now we have to fix it."

The Grizzlies closed out the scoring in the fifth when Beiswanger took reliever Caleb Ayres deep for a leadoff homer, capping off a day where Butler produced 26 runs on 33 hits.

Halsted was all over the place, lasting just 2/3 of an inning. He yielded nine runs on eight hits. He gave way to the bullpen, which struggled again, giving up 11 earned runs over 5 2/3.

Reliever, Garrett DeHaas, improved to 2-0 for Butler, holding Garden City without a hit the final 3 2/3. Colby Standard collected a season-high four hits, and Beiswanger drove in five runs.

Next up: Garden City at Otero, Tuesday, March 10-1 p.m.