Broncbusters win wild 15-14 decision over Dodge City

By Mike Pilosof

Dodge City, KS-Chris Finnegan felt young and alive entering his team's series with rival Dodge City on Thursday. But after eight crazy innings, the veteran coach appeared like he had just ran the Boston Marathon. Such is the life in Junior College baseball.

Kyle Jameson collected three hits including the go-ahead knock in the eighth, Cameron Sistrunk earned his first victory of the season on the bump, and the Broncbusters downed the Conquistadors 15-14 at Cavalier Field.

Garden City took command early, plating four runs in the top of the first, spearheaded by three straight RBI singles by Miguel Ramos, Tyler Barth and Ryan Muniz. But Dodge City responded quickly, answering with two in the bottom half before taking the lead in the third on Kory Schmidt's towering three-run homer. Braden Dedrick added a two-run double later in the frame, and the Conquistadors had a 7-4 advantage.

The Broncbusters weren't down for long, and after a single by Jameson and back-to-back walks to load the bases in the fourth, Will Gardner clobbered Wesley Greenlee's 2-2 fastball over the fence in right, a line-drive home run that put the visitors back on top, 8-7. Four batters later, Muniz connected on a two-run shot to make it a three-run contest.

Gardner wasn't finished.

The freshman mashed his second homer of the game in the fifth, taking advantage of a hanging breaking ball and hammering it out for what looked like a decisive three-run blast that put his team up 13-7. And after Muniz went yard in the sixth, Garden City had a five-run cushion. But Dodge City rallied again, scoring five in the sixth, which included Seth Ochoa's second homer of the afternoon that tied the game.

It stayed that way until the eighth when Muniz singled with one out; then went all the way to third on a passed ball. That eventually setup Jameson, who smoked a line-drive RBI single to left to put the Broncbusters ahead, 15-14.

Dodge City made things exciting in the bottom of the frame, putting the winning run on with one out. But Sistrunk got Justin Dunlap to fly out before fanning Joe Daneff to end the game.

DJ Burke started the game for Garden City allowing seven runs on seven hits in three innings. He gave way to Raul Garcia, who was tagged for two runs on three hits. Gardner went 3-for-3 at the dish and drove in a career-high seven runs.

Hunter Moseley took the loss for the Conquistadors, giving up one run on three hits in two innings of relief.