Southeast clips Garden City in game three

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-The Broncbusters have had issues closing games early in the season. Saturday's opener was no exception.

Tyler Preece homered and knocked in three runs, Eric Anderson collected two hits, and Southeast erased a 5-1 deficit to beat Garden City, 9-6 at Williams Stadium. The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 2-8 overall.

Control issues robbed Ryan Estey of a decent start. The sophomore struck out four, but he issued five free passes in 2 1/3 innings of work.

After spotting the Storm an early 1-0 lead, Will Gardner got the Broncbusters on the board in the bottom of the first, slapping an RBI base hit to center. Then in the fourth, Garden City scored four runs with two outs. A Southeast miscue allowed one run to score, Ryan Muniz doubled home two, and Gardner knocked in another on a line drive to center to make it 5-1.

But the Storm chipped away, getting a run back in the fifth on Anderson's RBI single. Two innings later, Preece gave Southeast the lead for good, taking Garrett Dykstra deep for a three-run home run that put the Storm in front 6-5. Ryan David added an RBI triple, and Southeast was up 8-5. They pushed another across in the seventh on Matt Goetzman's run-scoring double.

The Broncbusters had their chance in the seventh, putting two on with one out. Joey Bonfiglio then laid down a sacrifice bunt to cut the deficit to three. But Conor Camden struck out swinging to end the game.

Ryan Muniz collected two doubles, and Will Gardner went 3-for-4 with two RBI for Garden City.

Levi Gates notched the win for Southeast, allowing one run on one hit in two innings.