By MARSHALL MOORE

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mmoore@gctelegram.com

Keith Curran's final trip to the plate is what dreams are made of.

Two outs. Full count. Score tied in the bottom of the seventh. The winning run in scoring position.

A game winning hit.

The Garden City High School freshman made the most of his opportunity, blasting an RBI single to break a 7-7 tie with Larned in the final inning of the second game of the doubleheader, giving the Buffaloes a victory in the season finale at Clint Lightner Field on Friday.

The Buffaloes dropped the first game, 4-1.

"It was just a big relief," Curran said. "There was so much pressure. I'm just glad we were able to get the win on a play like that."

Trailing 7-4 after the top of the fourth in nightcap, Garden City (7-13, 2-6 WAC) battled back to tie the game going into the sixth with one run in the fourth, and two in the fifth. After a scoreless sixth inning, Larned (9-9, 6-0 MSAA) opened the seventh by getting its lead-off man on third after a Buffaloes' error.

Starting pitcher Daniel Gutierrez followed by walking the Indians' Andrew Froeschner who stole second base to put two runners in scoring position. Garden City coach Bill Wilson responded by replacing Gutierrez with Josh Morales, who stepped in to retire the next three batters -- striking out Larned's Justin Vratil for the third out.

"I was just jumping with joy," Morales said of the strike out. "I was just happy to get through it and put us in a position to win the game."

In the bottom half of the seventh, Larned pitcher Augie Morton walked lead-off Breven Graham to give Garden City a baserunner with no outs. On the next at-bat, Buffalo catcher Brad Hoggat hit a line drive to the third baseman, who fired to first and caught Graham before he could tag to force a 5-3 double play.

"We probably tried to do a little too much there," Wilson said. "We maybe could have tried to bunt (Graham) over to second, but that's just hindsight."

With two outs, Morton walked Arric Holmes, who stole second on an errant pickoff throw. Then, Curran dealt the final blow.

With the count full and Holmes on second, Curran drove a hopper over the bag at second and sprung Holmes, who rounded third before the Indians could put a glove on the ball. Curran rounded first, pumping his fist as the Garden City dugout cleared and rushed on the field to celebrate.

"We need to have the kids in those kind of situations to see how they'll respond," Wilson said. "I mean, we shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place, but the fact that they responded was a good sign."

"It's a great moment for him. It's a memory he'll never forget."

The win came on the heels of a lackluster 4-1 defeat in the first game. Garden City managed just two hits. Brendon Thackery pitched a complete game for the Buffaloes, striking out six, and holding Larned to one run through five innings.

The Buffaloes comitted four errors though, including two in the sixth that allowed Larned to score three runs. Indians' pitcher Garrett Vratil kept Garden City off balance with a wicked breaking ball -- striking out eight Buffaloes in 6 1/3 innings.

"We didn't respond at all with our bats in the first game," Wilson said. "Their pitcher had a good breaking ball, which we're not used to seeing. He was probably throwing that about 80 percent of the time."

The split was the final action of the regular season for the Buffaloes, who will be on the road for the first round of their Class 6A regional. Garden City's opponent will be announced at 10 a.m. this morning.

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Game 1

Larned 4, Garden City 1

Larned 001 003 0 -- 4 3 3

Garden City 000 001 0 -- 1 2 4

W -- G. Vratil. L -- Thackery

Game 2

Garden City 8, Larned 7

Larned 112 300 0 -- 7 6 2

Garden City 040 120 1 -- 8 8 4

W -- Morales. L -- Morton. 2B -- Larned, Aldridge, Morton; Garden City, Brungardt, Morales, Curran.