Garden City rallies to beat Pratt in opener

Garden City, KS-There were plenty of offensive fireworks. 

Cody Kilpatrick drove in three runs, Sean Philpotts and Karson Evans each scored three times, and Garden City outlasted Pratt, 13-11 Thursday afternoon at Williams Stadium. 

Sean Togher, who gave up nine runs on 12 hits over five innings, did just enough to earn his fourth victory on the season. 

After the freshman hurler allowed a pair of RBI doubles as part of a four-run Pratt first, the Broncbusters answered with three of their own in the bottom half. Evans singled home a run; then scored on a pass ball to make it 4-3. The Broncbusters then took the lead in the second when Evans was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. 

In the fourth, Brittain Brewer ripped a run-scoring double to the gap, and Kilpatrick added a sacrifice fly to give Garden City an 8-4 advantage. 

But Pratt, which lost their fifth straight game to fall to a league-worst 6-25 overall and 1-12 in conference, took the lead back with a five-run fifth inning. With the game tied, Chase Rollings legged out an infield RBI single to give the Beavers a one-run lead. 

The Broncbusters though answered in the bottom of the fifth. Philpotts pushed a run across with a fielder's choice, Roy Higinbotham was hit by a fastball with the bases loaded, Kilpatrick singled home a pair, and Garden City was up, 13-9. 

Alexander Paniagua, who surrendered two runs in the seventh to make this a lot tighter than Head Coach, Josh Oller would have liked, held off the Beaver rally when he got Roman Edwards to pop out to third to end the game. 

Vincent Bouchard took the loss for the Beavers, allowing five runs on five hits in two innings.