Busters' baseball wins two, loses two
3/4/2013
Busters' baseball wins two, loses two
By ADAM HOLT
aholt@gctelegram.com
The Garden City Community College baseball team split a four-game series over the weekend with Longview (Mo.) at Williams Stadium.
The Broncbusters swept Saturday's games, 7-2 and 9-5, but dropped 10-6 and 3-2 decisions on Sunday.
"Saturday, that's the team we could be," GCCC coach Chris Finnegan said. "Sunday could be the team we might end up being. Our problem is, we're very inconsistent."
Garden City (4-8) managed just five hits in that 3-2 loss to finish the series on Sunday.
Down 2-0 in the fifth, the Busters got a two-run, two-out single by Zach Barton to the the game and chase Lakers starter Lew Caradonna from the game.
Jamie Graeser singled to lead off the top of the seventh, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a grounder to second, scoring on Dylan Farrell's RBI single to put Longview up 3-2.
Brett Valentine picked up the save with a 1-2-3 seventh to secure a split. Colton Kibler (0-2) took the loss.
Garden City gave up six runs in the fifth en route to the 10-6 loss to open Sunday's doubleheader.
The first four Longview batters got hits against Tyler Clapper, including a two-run homer by Brandon Dulin. Garrett Bryant came in to pitch and gave up back-to-back triples and a single, before being replaced by Chris Bonk as the Lakers batted around and took a 9-5 lead.
The Busters were up 5-3 after four, thanks in part to a pair of runs on wild pitches as part of a three-run third.
Clapper took the loss and dropped to 0-3 this season.
A four-run fifth helped the Busters win Game 2, 9-5.
Rocky Desantis was 3-for-4 with a double, a run and three RBIs. Mason Fischer was 3-for-3 with a run, RBI and a walk, and Garden City pounded out 15 hits.
Jake Eikleberry (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, replacing starter Brooks Trujillo, who allowed five earned runs on eight hits and a walk in two innings of work.
Desantis hit a third-inning grand slam to power Garden City to a 7-2 win in the opener.
Kaleb Zimmer led the third off with a double, and Barton and Nolan Barrientos reached base on a walk and a hit by pitch, respectively, to load the bases for Desantis, who homered to right field to put Garden City up 4-1.
Zimmer, Barton and Marcus Brown each had run-scoring hits in a three-run sixth.
Bradley Spires pitched a complete game to improve to 2-0, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, with six strikeouts over his seven innings.
The Busters' inconsistency is their biggest weakness right now, Finnegan said. And splitting games at home in conference play isn't going to be good enough.
Garden City returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday, hosting Hutchinson to open Jayhawk Conference play.