Broncbusters rally past Lamar on opening day

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Will Gardner smacked the go-ahead double as part of a four-run seventh, and Garden City beat Lamar, 5-4 on Monday afternoon at Broncbuster Stadium.

Raul Garcia picked up the win for Chris Finnegan's bunch, striking out four in two innings of relief.

After a pitcher's duel dominated the first 4 ½ innings, the Broncbusters finally got on the board in the fifth. Joey Bonfiglio walked; then scored all the way from first on Hector Garcia's line-drive double to the gap.

But the Broncbusters gave up the lead in the top of the seventh. Owen Mitchell issued a walk and surrendered a single to Brian Ledezma to begin the inning. Skyler Ahern followed with a pinch-hit RBI single to tie the game. Three batters later, Cameron Sisneros ripped a two-run single to give the Lopes a 3-1 advantage.

It didn't take Garden City long to respond.

With two on and two out in the bottom half, shortstop Hagen Escoto booted Geoff Marlow's hard liner, allowing Garcia to score from third. Dylan Garcia singled home the tying run before Gardner gave the Broncbusters the lead.

Lamar made things tighter in the ninth after Ledezma took Garcia deep. But the sophomore left hander responded by striking out the next two batters before Elias Fiddler was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Garcia and Gardner each had two hits for the Broncbusters, who finally got the season started after a multitude of postponements. Starter Guillermo Gelpi walked four in two innings of work before giving way to Peyton Walters, who threw 27 pitches and struck out three. Garrett Dykstra also posted three k's.

Hunter Boneau took the loss for Lamar, yielding four runs on two hits in that disastrous seventh inning.

Next up: Garden City vs. McCook-Tuesday Feb. 8-3 p.m.