Offensive struggles doom Garden City vs. Lamar

Garden City, KS-On a day where the wind was blowing straight out, Caleb Cox's team couldn't muster enough offense. 

Johnathan Davis collected four hits including a massive solo shot in the seventh, four pitchers combined to allow just six hits, and Lamar cruised past Garden City, 23-9 Tuesday afternoon at Williams Stadium. The Broncbusters dropped to 4-15 overall. 

Broncbuster starter Konner Hatfield lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up seven earned runs on six hits. Reliever Jackson Griffith then served up eight runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings of relief. Caleb Metzen was tagged with four runs in two frames of work.  

Things started off well for Garden City. Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Quinn Gundelfinger cranked a three-run homer to tie it. Matt Madison followed with an RBI single, and the Broncbusters had a 4-2 advantage.

But an eight-run second inning that saw Lamar send 13 men to the plate put Garden City in a 10-4 hole. And even after the home team sliced the deficit to three with three in the bottom half, the Lopes kept coming with two more in the third and four more in the fourth. In fact, Lamar scored in every inning, handing Garden City its most lopsided defeat of the season. 

The Broncbusters had a little bit of lightning in the bottom of the third when Brett Barber smashed a two-run blast over the left-field wall. Other than that, Garden City didn't do much offensively. They stranded eight runners and managed just two hits with men in scoring position.