Garden City takes final two from Indian Hills

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-Have yourself a weekend Corbin Truslow.

The freshman went yard again, Darian Burns and Clint Allen also hit home runs, and Garden City took the final two games from Indian Hills 7-3 and 15-11 Sunday afternoon at Williams Stadium.

In the game one, Garden City scored three runs in the first; all of which came on two bases loaded walks and when Burns was hit by a pitch. Then in the third, Allen hit a two-run single and Ty Barclay added an RBI base hit for a 6-0 lead.

"I thought we were very fortunate to get three of four from Indian Hills," Head Coach Chris Finnegan said.

Indian Hills cut the deficit in half with a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth when Ryan Humeniuk's ground out plated one coupled with Jameson Hart's RBI single. But the Broncbusters added some insurance in the bottom half when Truslow blasted a solo shot to right, giving Garden City (11-6) a 7-3 advantage.

"We came up with some pretty timely hits today," Finnegan said.

It also helped that Jacob Douglas was solid, allowing three runs on eight hits in six innings before Nick Iossi slammed the door in the seventh, working around a two-out single to record the save.

Indian Hills' starter DJ Depiero was yanked in the first inning after walking four and allowing three runs. Reliever Emmanuel Castillo yielded three runs and Ray Nolan gave up one.

In the final game of the series, Garden City built a big lead thanks to a four-run first spearheaded by Allen's leadoff homer and Burns three-run shot. Barclay added an RBI single in the third, and after Indian Hills plated one in the top of the fourth, Allen scored on leftfielder Jay Hester's error in the bottom of the inning followed by Chris Lara's run-scoring single that put the Broncbusters up 7-1.

"Our bullpen nearly gave this one away," Finnegan said.

Indian Hills scored four runs in the seventh to tie the game at 7, thanks to two Garden City errors. But the Broncbusters answered in the bottom of the frame with Barclay's RBI double and ReJean Bourget's run-scoring base hit. Allen singled home Barclay, freshman Griff Brunson slapped a two-run double, and Chet Lytle knocked in one to give the Broncbusters a 13-7 advantage.

Indian Hills made another comeback attempt in the eighth, and Justin King's two-run homer fueled a four-run inning that trimmed Garden City's lead to two. But Finnegan's bunch answered again when Barclay scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth. The Broncbusters tacked on one more off of Brunson's RBI groundout before reliever Brandt Sobczak shut down the road squad in the ninth.

Starter Ryder Yakel went six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits. He struck out seven, and Iossi allowed two runs in less than an inning of work.

Corey Jackson took the loss for Indian Hills in relief, allowing three runs on two hits in 1.2 innings.

Next up: Garden City vs. Otero-Tuesday, Feb. 27-3 p.m.