Garden City drops game two to Southeast

By Mike Pilosof

Garden City, KS-When it rains it definitely pours, and in game two of their series with Southeast, the Broncbusters watched as a monsoon splashed down in the form of two big innings for the Storm that ultimately put the game away.

Nolan Brown collected three hits including a towering third-inning home run, and Southeast evened up their four-game set with the Broncbusters with a 16-3 run-rule victory Sunday afternoon at Williams Stadium. The loss dropped Garden City to 3-2 overall.

And it was a rough day for starter Jake Gimbel and the Broncbuster defense. On the second pitch of the game, Matt Goetzmann took him deep. Then in the third, it was Brown leading off the frame by blasting a solo shot to right. But the damage had already been done an inning before when the Storm plated six runs in the second fueled by a pair of rally-starting singles, an error by Gimbel and a hit-by-pitch with the sacks full. Moments later, another miscue, this time by Cullen Glosson in right, put Southeast up 5-0. Two batters later, Glosson misplayed another ball that was tailing towards the line, allowing two more runs to cross.

By the time Brown teed off on Gimbel in the third, the Storm had a commanding 8-0 advantage. And even after Tyler Barth roped a two-run triple with two outs in the third to put the Broncbusters on the board, Garden City gave it right back in the top of the fourth. Southeast brought six more around, which included a bases-loaded walk, and a line-drive, two-run triple by Brown.

Garden City did muster another run in the bottom of the fourth on Blake Beauchene's RBI single to center. But Chris Finnegan could only watch as the offensive pyrotechnics that highlighted game one, were tempered in Sunday's finale. The brown and gold were limited to just six hits.

Gimbel lasted only three innings, allowing eight runs (two earned) on five hits with four strikeouts for Garden City. Sage McMinn never made it out of the fourth, yielding four runs on one hit while walking three.

Brown finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and four RBI for Southeast.

Next up: Garden City vs. Southeast-Monday, Feb. 22-12 p.m. at Williams Stadium