Ramos delivers; Broncbusters beat Barton County in game four

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-There have been plenty of low times for Chris Finnegan's team in 2021. But on Saturday, they found a way to avoid a sweep, and they got a timely contribution from a player who's just glad to be back on the field this year.

Ryan Muniz, Will Gardner and Ibrahim Rodriguez all went yard, Miguel Ramos, who missed all of last season with an injury, laced the go-ahead single in the sixth, and the Broncbusters edged Barton County 10-9 in game four at Williams Stadium.

And there were plenty of plot twists in this one.

Trey Schwerdtfeger surrendered a solo home run to Alex Rogers to begin the game. Then he proceeded to retire the Cougars in order. In the bottom half, Garden City grabbed the lead when Muniz cranked a two-run bomb to left. But that was short lived once the Cougars plated four in the second, powered by Rogers' two-run single to left that made it 5-2. They stretched that 6-2 in the third on Jackson Hartley's RBI triple; then added another run in the fourth when Guillermo Gelpi issued a bases-loaded walk to give the road team a five-run cushion.

But the Broncbusters battled back in their half. Tyler Barth doubled, and Rodriguez tattooed a ball over the fence in left for a two-run shot. An inning later, Will Gardner, who has been on an absolute tear as of late, mashed a three-run, game-tying homer. It was all part of a five-run inning that was capped with Blake Beauchene's RBI single that put the Broncbusters up 9-7.

Too bad that lead didn't stick either.

Michael Thorne nearly escaped trouble in the sixth; that was before he served up a two-run homer to Connor Scott that knotted the game at 9. But Ramos, who's been waiting for these types of opportunities for more than a year after Tommy John Surgery and COVID-19 zapped his 2020 campaign, knocked a run-scoring single through the left side in the sixth to put Garden City up for good. Jake Gimbel then polished off the victory by striking out the side in the seventh.

Ramos finished 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored for Garden City. Rodriguez was 3-for-3 with three RBI, and Cullen Glosson scored three times. Thorne picked up the win on the bump, allowing two runs on two hits in 2.1 innings. Gimbel earned the save.