Clark stays red hot; Broncbusters stomp Frank Phillips

By Mike Pilosof

Borger, TX-Whatever frustrations Garden City had following four straight losses to No. 11 Hutch over the weekend, the Broncbusters took out on Frank Phillips on Wednesday.

Billy Clark and Jesse Gonzalez each homered, and Garden City scored in every inning but the third en route to a 17-6 victory over the Plainsmen.

"We swung the bat really well," Finnegan said. "It was a nice bounce back for us."

The offensive explosion began in the first when Clark scored on a wild pitch. Gonzales followed with a two-run double and Darian Burns smoked a run-scoring, extra base hit to make it 4-0.

"We jumped on them early, which was nice," Finnegan said. "But we needed to maintain control."

Alex Neilsen's rope double in the second coupled with Gonzales's RBI groundout pushed the lead to 6-0.

But as was the case vs. the Blue Dragons, Garden City let Frank Phillips right back in the game. Tanner Latham's two-out home run, fueled a four-run rally in the bottom of the second. They finished it off with Brett Esau's two-run shot that pulled the Plainsmen to within one 6-5.

Frank Phillips would not get any closer.

Gonzales's towering three-run bomb was part of a four-run fourth where the Broncbusters took complete control of the game. Nielsen added an RBI single, and Garden City had a 10-5 advantage.

In the fifth, Clark was plunked by Plainsmen reliever Robert Brueghemeyer, which allowed Shane Podsednik to score from third. An inning later, Burns scored on a passed ball before Clark ripped a three-run home run, his fifth in the last four games, to give Garden City a 15-5 cushion. Rafael Viella capped the scoring in the seventh with an RBI double, completing the season sweep of the Plainsmen.

"It was nice to see the offense, and our pitching was pretty good," Finnegan added.

Quinton Bonnell notched the win for the Broncbusters, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out two. He did allow two home runs. Dillan Feurestein fanned five in three innings of relief.

Zachary Odden took the loss for the Plainsmen after not getting out of the first inning. He yielded four runs on three hits.

Next up: Garden City vs. Pratt-Saturday, April 22-12:45 p.m. pregame; 1 p.m. first pitch on westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app