Broncbusters show resolve in road losses at Trinidad

By Mike Pilosof

Trinidad, CO-The Broncbusters dropped their first two road games of the season on Sunday, falling to Trinidad State 13-3 and 3-2.

"For the most part, we beat ourselves," Head Coach Chris Finnegan said. "That's disappointing."

In game one, Garden City (2-2, 0-0) got on the board first when Griff Brunson scored on third basemen Xavier Langlois's throwing error in the top of the first.

From there it was all Trojans.

Trinidad State (2-2) scored three runs off Broncbuster errors in the second. Then Conrado Diaz smashed a two-run homer off of Jacob Douglas to put the Trojans up 5-1. After Garden City sliced the deficit to three on Ty Barclay's two-run single in the top of the third, the Trojans answered in the bottom half with Xavier Langlois's RBI single.

"Game one was all on us," Finnegan said. "We made the mistakes, and they took advantage of them."

In the fourth, Diaz scored on a Douglas's wild pitch and Reese Patterson added an RBI groundout that scored Blake Mattey from third to make it 8-3. An inning later, Finengan replaced Douglas with Aaron Peach, but the results were no different. After back-to-back free passes and a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases, Carlos Mancillas cleared them with a three-run double. A couple of batters later, Patterson smoked a two-run single to induce the run rule.

"That's why we play these non-conference games," Finnegan explained. "It gives us a gauge of what we need to improve on."

Douglas was pulled after three innings. He allowed six runs (0 earned) on three hits while striking out one and walking one. His counterpart Eli Sievert pitched 4.2 innings, striking out seven and giving up three runs on four hits.

In game two, Finnegan's young squad showed some moxie-battling back from an early 3-0 deficit.

Sophomore Ryder Yakel had one rough inning, yielding three runs in the bottom of the first, two of which came off the bat of Diaz, who ripped a two-run double. Mattey followed with an RBI single before Yakel got Alec Petterson to ground out and David Gauthier and Lucas Quimby struck out to end the threat.

Yakel was solid from there, scattering just four hits over his final five innings of work.

Meantime Garden City put some pressure on Trojans starter Anthony Durbano in the fifth when Young doubled home Ty Lightley and Clint Allen. Matthew Torrez then replaced Durbano with reliever Jose Torees, who promptly walked Corbin Turslow. But the rally ended when Barclay hit into an inning-ending double play.

"Game two was a hard fought game, where we gave ourselves a chance to win," Finnegan said

After going down in order in the sixth, the Broncbusters put the tying run on in the seventh when Allen singled to center. But he was eventually thrown out at second when Brunson bounced into a fielder's choice before Young struck out on five pitches to end the game.

Yakel was solid, striking out three in six innings on the bump. Durbano tossed 4.1 innings for Trinidad State, allowing two runs on six hits, with three strikeouts and two walks.

Next up: Garden City vs. McCook, Neb.-Wednesday, Feb. 7-3 p.m.