The Garden City Telegram
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GCCC baseball splits with Seward
Published 4/11/2009 in Sports : GCCC
By MIKE KESSINGER
When Seward County Community College's David Cruz flew out to center field for the final out of Game 2 the Garden City Broncbusters could finally relax.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Garden City Community College second baseman Tony DeCarlo, center, jumps in the air to avoid the slide of Seward County's Travis Parker as he throws to first base Friday to complete a double play at Williams Stadium.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Garden City Community College third baseman Luke Kordsmeier prepares to snag a grounder Friday against Seward County at Williams Stadium.
It was the end of the first day of a four-game series against the Saints and Garden City had come away with a Jayhawk Conference Western Division split. The Saints took the first game 7-4, then the Broncbusters bounced back to win the nightcap 6-3. More importanlyt, Garden City (29-13, 14-8) holds on to its narrow lead in the top spot of the Western Division. At least for another day.
"It's a big rivalry," GCCC coach Chris Finnegan said of the Busters and Seward County. "It's something where our guys are ready to play, their guys are ready to play, and what it was, was a day of who was going to make less mistakes it seems like. The less mistakes made ended up being the team that won."
Seward County (26-14, 13-8) was certainly the team with more mistakes in the second game. The Saints committed five errors in the loss, and succumbed to 14 hits by Garden City, which had just one extra base hit. The Busters methodically pulled away from Seward County in the second game with a run in the first inning, then one in the second and three in the third. The Busters' lone extra base hit came in the third when M.J. Sartin had an RBI triple to score Sloan Soulia. Andrew Phelan followed with a single to score Sartin, then Erik Mattingly singled in Phelan.
On the defensive side, the Busters fed off Hayden Daugherty's strong performance on the mound. The sophomore right-hander from Elk City, Okla., shut down Seward County through much of the 5 1/3 innings of work he produced. Daugherty missed the first two series of the season when he was out with a broken finger he suffered in a team scrimmage the week before the season opener.
"He's building his arm strength back up," Finnegan said of Daugherty. "Hayden's a bulldog. He's a winner. He comes from a winning program. It's something, he wants the ball every day if he can possibly get it."
By the time Daugherty (3-2) was relieved by Mike Sutton in the sixth, he had given up three runs on three hits, had just one walk and struck out five. As he walked off the field he was given a standing ovation by the partisan Garden City crowd.
Heath Wyatt came in relief in the seventh for the Busters and finished off the game facing just four batters. Wyatt picked up the save which is his 11th of the season and a new Garden City record.
"He's worked very hard, he's come a long way," Finnegan said of his closer. "He's a guy who was in the mix out of the bullpen last year at the beginning then kind of fell out of the mix. He's turned himself into a pretty good closer."
C.J. Gillman led the Busters offense with three hits. Ben Warned, Soulia and Wade Johnson had two hits apiece and each had an RBI.
In the first game, Garden City jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when Mattingly had an RBI single to score Sartin. The score remained 1-0 until the fourth when GCCC starting pitcher Jose Cifuentes gave up a single, then was replaced by Nate Van Bibber. The Saints responded with four hits off Van Bibber in the fourth and scored three runs.
After a run by the Busters in the fourth, then a run by Seward County in the top of the fifth, Garden City tied the score at 4-4 a half inning later. Gillman singled in Cass Via for the first run, then Sartin followed with an RBI single to score Gillman.
The Saints put the game away with three runs in the sixth, starting with a solo home run by Mikel Huston to lead off the inning.
Reece McGraw (0-1) took the loss for Garden City. He worked just 1 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on four hits.
The Busters will conclude its series against Seward County today at Williams Stadium. The first game of the doubleheader starts at 1 p.m.
Game 1
Seward County 7, GCCC 4
| Seward Co. | 000 | 313 | 0 | -- 7 | 14 | 2 |
| GCCC | 010 | 120 | 0 | -- 4 | 7 | 2 |
Doran and Glime; Cifuentes, Van Bibber (4), McGraw (5), Melendez (6) and Soulia. W -- Doran. L -- McGraw. 2B -- Seward, Cruz, Parker, Huston, Grant. HR -- Seward, Huston.
Game 2
GCCC 6, Seward County 3
| Seward Co. | 001 | 101 | 0 | -- 3 | 5 | 5 |
| GCCC | 113 | 010 | x | -- 6 | 14 | 2 |
Daugherty, Sutton (6), Wyatt (7) and Soulia; Collins, Wagner (3) and Glime. W -- Daugherty (3-2). L -- Collins. S -- Wyatt (11). 3B -- Seward, Broadbent. HR -- Seward, Campbell.
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