Home Run Derby: Broncbusters drill five homers in game three win

Colby, KS-Dawson Stutz drilled two more homers, Nick Barber, Konner Hatfield, and Connor Camden also went yard, and Garden City erased a five-run deficit to beat Colby, 19-12 Saturday afternoon at Young Memorial Field. The Broncbusters improved to 4-13 overall and 2-1 in league play.  

Garden City slugged out 15 hits, their third highest total this season and the fifth time this year they've collected 10 or more. All nine members of the lineup had at least one base knock with Barber, Hatfield, Stutz, and Nick Barber all tallying two or more. 

Caden Blair improved to 2-0 on the bump, tossing an inning of scoreless relief. Starter Taylor Dooley lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on two hits while walking four. 

After Quinn Gundelfinger's RBI double in the first put Garden City ahead 1-0, Dooley surrendered a leadoff homer to Danny Sullivan in the third and a run-scoring double to Carter Roth that gave the Trojans the lead. An inning later, Olivier Valle's two-run extra base hit chased Dooley from the game. Two batters later, Alex Ellert pushed another across with an RBI groundout, making it 6-1.  

Garden City had a major response in the fifth. Hatfield blasted a two-run homer, Stutz sent a ball the opposite way for a two-run bomb, and (Nick) Barber smacked a grand slam to center, eviscerating Colby's five-run cushion and giving the visitors a 9-6 advantage. 

After Colby plated five more in the fifth to take the lead back, the Broncbusters answered with five of their own in the sixth, capped by (Brett) Barber's bases-clearing double that made it 14-11. Stutz added a solo shot in the seventh, and Camden smoked a line-drive over the right-field wall for a two-run home run later in the frame giving Garden City an eight-run advantage.  

Entering play Saturday, the Broncbusters had just seven homers as a team. They hit five in game three vs. Colby the most in a single game since Garden City blasted six vs. the Trojans on April 28, 2018. 

Stutz finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored for Garden City, which posted double-digit runs for the fourth time this season. (Nick) Barber drove in five runs.