Garden City too much for Southeast

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-It's only been two games, but Connery O'Donnell looks sharp. And while it's too early to tell what exactly that means, the sophomore hurler is giving veteran coach Chris Finnegan all the more reason to believe.

O'Donnell threw just 66 pitches in four innings, striking out seven, Ibrahim Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season, and Garden City powered past Southeast 8-3 Saturday afternoon at Williams Stadium.

And how did O'Donnell's day begin? How about a 1-2-3 first, fanning the first two batters he faced, before Cooper Prososki grounded out to short.

The Broncbuster offense then sprung to life in the bottom half. Kyle Jameson singled; then scored on Dakota Finley's line-drive triple to right. After Rodriguez walked, Colin Stone added an RBI groundout to put Garden City up 2-0.

Meantime, O'Donnell was humming. Striking out two more in the second and a pair in the third. His only mistake in that inning was when he issued a one-out walk to Jackson Meier. Following an error, Prososki singled home a run to slice the Broncbuster lead to 2-1.

Garden City though answered in the bottom half. With two outs, Stone was hit by a pitch, and Tommy Alitz drew a walk. Moments later, Brennen Nolte powered a bases-clearing double to the gap in left to make it 4-1.

O'Donnell's day promptly ended after the fourth when he retired the Storm in order. He set down five of the final six batters he faced. In the fifth, he was replaced by Owen Mitchell, whose miscue to begin the frame allowed Cameron Blossom to reach. The next batter, Meier, singled him home to slice Garden City's lead in half.

The Broncbusters more than answered in their half of the fifth.

Rodriguez led off the inning by smashing a 2-0 breaking ball over the wall in left, stretching Garden City's lead to 5-2. The Broncbusters then loaded the bases before scoring again. Jameson was hit by a pitch, and Jake Barber and Finley walked with the bases juiced to make it 8-2.

In the Storm's sixth, reliever Evan Dean yielded a leadoff homer to Dylan Wagner, before working out of a two on, one-out jam by getting Meier to ground into a force and Cade Moeller to bounce out to first.

Finley knocked in two runs, and Jameson was 2-for-3 with a run scored for Garden City.

Southeast was limited to just six hits. Starter, Rece Snyder, allowed four earned runs on three hits in 2 2/3 innings of work.