Broncbusters drop series opener to Butler

Garden City, KS-CJ Reid collected three hits and drove in two runs, Caden Kickhaefer notched his fourth win of the year on the bump, and Butler beat Garden City, 12-8 Thursday afternoon at Williams Stadium.  

The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 2-20 overall and 0-5 in the Jayhawk. 

Cole Murrell went 2-for-4 with two RBI for Butler, which improved to 14-11 overall and 6-3 in league play. Taber Stokes also knocked in two runs.  

Brett Barber smashed his first-career grand slam off the video board in left-center, which trimmed a six-run deficit to two in the bottom of the sixth. Grant Ryan also went deep in the second, and Wyatt Anderson mashed a solo shot, his third of the season, in the fourth. 

But the Grizzlies got to Broncbuster starter, Andrew Bowman early and often. The sophomore labored through 1 1/3 innings, surrendering three runs in the first, which included Reid's leadoff homer. In the second, Bowman served up an RBI double to Reid before walking Justin Hudson with the bases loaded. That's when Head Coach, Josh Oller pulled the plug on his starter, replacing him with JP Harris, who got Tabor Stokes to bounce into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.  

Garden City though kept things close, pulling within a run following Anderson's fourth-inning long ball. But Butler put the game away with a five-run fifth that included two hit batsmen with the bases loaded.  

Bowman dropped to 0-4 while the bullpen yielded seven earned runs over 5 2/3.