Broncbusters rally falls short against McCook

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Mistakes proved costly in this one.

The Broncbusters committed four errors, Ethan Murdoch homered and knocked in two runs, and McCook beat Garden City, 8-6 Tuesday afternoon at Williams Stadium.

The Indians scored a run in the second then added three in the fifth, including Murdoch's two-out, two-run bomb off Noah McCandless that gave McCook a 4-0 edge. An inning later, Ibrahim Rodriguez booted a ball at short allowing Melwin Perez to score from third.  Stephen Roozendal was then called for a balk that pushed a run home from third, and Markus Coronado poked a 1-0 curveball into right for an RBI single and a 7-0 advantage. Perez added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it an eight-run cushion.

Left for dead, Garden City rallied back in the ninth. With two outs, Connor Camden was plunked by a breaking ball with the sacks full, Ryan Muniz smashed a bases-clearing triple, and Dylan Garcia smoked a two-run single to bring the Broncbusters within two, 8-6. But with the tying run at the plate, Rodriguez popped out to right to end the game.

Garcia finished 2-for-5 at the dish, and Muniz knocked in three for Garden City. Starter Kurisu Ueta threw 33 pitches in his Broncbuster debut, allowing one run on one hit and walked two. Ryan Estey punched out three in relief, and McCandless yielded three runs on two hits.

Ethan Fritz was the winning pitcher, blanking Garden City over six innings while scattering two hits and striking out six.

Next up: Garden City at New Mexico-Friday, Feb. 11-12 pm and 4 pm CDT