By MARSHALL MOORE

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mmoore@gctelegram.com

Bill Wilson let his team have it.

With the wounds of a disastrous five inning 13-2 loss to Western Athletic Conference foe Liberal still seeping, the Garden City High School coach was in no mood for civility as he tore into his squad in the post game huddle.

"Oh, man, he was mad," starting pitcher Brad Powers said. "The first game we just really didn't make good plays."

Whatever message he was trying to deliver came through loud and clear.

The Buffaloes bounced back in the second game of their doubleheader with the Redskins, winning 4-1 and earning their second conference win of the season Monday at Williams Stadium.

The win was Garden City's (6-12, 2-6) first conference victory since splitting their series with Dodge City on April 8, and their first at Williams on the season. The Buffaloes, who moved to Clint Lightner Field this year, switched venues due to maintenance issues.

"It was all clean, but if anybody was too close to me they probably got spit on," Wilson said of the postgame talk. "I wasn't very happy. It's just unacceptable. We weren't ready to play, we had kids that just didn't do things that we expect them to do."

After battling Liberal to a scoreless draw through three innings in the first game, the Buffaloes fell apart in the top of the fourth. Garden City gave up seven hits and nine runs as Powers struggled to maintain control on the mound. Powers, who had thrown less than 20 pitches in the first three innings, faced 14 batters in the fourth before being replaced by Brendon Thackery.

Garden City responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs off a two-RBI double hit deep into left by Powers, but they gave up another five runs in the fifth.

"They came out and beat us bad," Daniel Gutierrez said. "We came out with no effort, basically."

Despite a tough outing on the mound in the first game, Powers would get even with his bat in the second.

After moving to the second spot in the order, Powers responded by going 2-for-3 from the plate with two RBIs and a double. The senior, who serves as the No. 1 pitcher in Garden City's rotation, ended the day with four RBIs and helped to turn a 5-3 double play that ended the game in the seventh.

"You have to have a short memory," Wilson said. "That's what you have to go into every performance and every at-bat thinking. Once it's over it's over. We've been struggling to find a guy to put in the two spot, and he's been swinging the bat really, really well the past three or four games. I'm really pleased with that."

Gutierrez started the second game for the Buffaloes, giving up one run and three hits in just under five innings of work while fanning four Redskin batters with his trademark curveball.

"I just started throwing it, and, well, decided to stick with it," Gutierrez said of his curve. "I just wanted to come out and hopefully keep us in the game and we all came out and played pretty good defense."

Gutierrez was replaced with two outs in the fourth by Nathan Brungardt who would go on to earn his first save of the year by holding Liberal scoreless the rest of the way.

Monday's doubleheader was also Brad Hoggatt's second series back at catcher after tearing his meniscus on a collision at the plate during the Dodge City series. Hoggatt, who was doubtful that he would return to the No. 2 spot until near the end of the season, moved back behind the plate against Hays on Thursday.

His return proved invaluable to the Buffaloes after he blocked a number of pitches in the dirt and managed to catch an errant curveball by Gutierrez that sailed just behind the batter's back.

"We have to have (Hoggatt) back there," Wilson said. "Just as a leader back there, just doing his job and knowing what I'm trying to call and setting everything up. He's valuable back there."

Freshman Keith Curran opened up the scoring for Garden City in the second game with an RBI double in the bottom of the first. Powers drove in two more runs with a single in the third and a double in the fifth before an RBI double by Thackery brought in the fourth run.

Garden City will close out their conference schedule May 6 at Great Bend, then return home May 8 for their home finale against Larned.

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Game 1

Liberal 13, Garden City 2

Liberal 000 94X X -- 13 12 2

Garden City 000 20X X -- 2¬ ¬ ¬  3¬ ¬ ¬  2

W--Brown. L--Powers. 2B--Liberal, Flowers (2), Jurado, Brown; Garden City, Powers

Game 2

Garden City 4, Liberal 1

Liberal 000 010 0 -- 1 4 4

Garden City 101 110 X -- 4 7 3

W--Gutierrez. L--Gomez. S--Brungardt. 2B--Garden City, Curran, Thackery, Powers