Walk-off heartbreak, Broncbusters drop game three in Great Bend

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Great Bend, KS-It was another heartbreaker for Broncbuster baseball.

Dryden Howse collected two hits including a line-drive, game-winning single in the seventh as Barton beat Garden City, 5-4 in game three Saturday afternoon at Lawson-Biggs Field. The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 10-21-1 overall and 3-8 in conference.

Garden City took an early lead, getting an RBI double from Geoff Marlow in the first before pushing another run across when Ryan Muniz lined into a double play that allowed Will Gardner to score to make it 2-0.

The Cougars sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the frame thanks to Connor Allen's RBI base hit.

That's when the pitcher's duel kicked into high gear.

George Hettrick and Owen Reynolds were dealing, allowing just one hit combined between the two of them over the next four innings. In fact, at one point, Hettrick retired eight straight Cougar batters.

Then in the sixth, the Broncbusters extended the lead, scoring a pair of unearned runs on the back of two Barton errors that put Garden City up, 4-1.

The Cougars chipped away in their half. Henry Hayman singled and Chandler Miller tripled him home to make it 4-2. After Brian Bartel worked a scoreless seventh for the home team, the Cougars put the tying runs on in the bottom of the inning before an error by Konner Hatfield in center followed by Ricardo Sanchez's RBI single knotted the score. Garcia managed to battle back and strike out Hayman, but he then lost Allen on a four-pitch walk before Howse laced a line-drive walk-off single to left to end it.

(Raul) Garcia dropped to 1-5 on the season, allowing three runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning. Dylan Garcia finished 2-for-3, and Muniz and Marlow each drove in a run.

Bartels notched the win in relief for Barton, retiring all four batters he faced.