Butler baseball split their KJCCC West conference opener with Garden City, falling behind after the first two games on the road Thursday but responded with two convincing wins at home Saturday afternoon.

Thursday saw very little scoring from the highly powered Grizzly lineup. Butler combined for just 10 hits in the double-header and just five runs scored. They came into Thursday averaging nearly eight runs per game. 

The Grizzlies dropped game one with a final score of 3-2 falling behind in the four-game series. Butler trailed right away allowing two-runs in the first inning. They held the Broncbusters scoreless through the next four and scored two of their own, tying the game in the top of the fourth. Garden plated a runner in the bottom of the sixth and that would be enough as they held Butler at bay in the top half of the seventh to win game one 3-2.

Game two started out as a pitcher's duel as both Izack Tiger for Butler and Garden City's Connery O'Donnell both pitch scoreless innings through the first three innings. Josh Cameron scored the first run in the game after he hit a double to get on base. He stole third on the next batter and a throwing error on the pick off would score Cameron after the steal.

Garden City answered in the fifth with two runs to regain the lead. Butler tied the game after Werries scored on an infield grounder after he hit a leadoff triple but the Broncbusters would answer quickly rattling off four runs in the seventh to take back the lead and extend it 6-2. Butler would score one in the ninth but fall short losing 6-3 to wrap up the two games in Garden.

Saturday saw a completely different team at the plate from Butler as they combined for 27 runs in the double header (14 innings played) off 33 hits allowing only 10 runs off of 16 Garden City hits.

Game one of the day (three in the series), started off slow for both teams at the plate as Butler was held a 1-0 lead after three. Garden scored their first run in the fourth, but the Grizzlies responded with a Thomas Beiswanger double down the line that scored Austin Portner.

The Grizzlies really started rolling later in the game as they plated three in consecutive innings to take a 8-1 lead heading in to the final innings. In that scoring frenzy, Austin Portner hit a two-run home run while the Grizzlies also saw RBI's from Colby Standard and Jackson Syring.

Garden scored three in the seventh, but it was too late to start their comeback as Zach Nagle forced a flyout to left field and struck out the final two to end the game.

Butler rattled off nine runs in the first inning of game two to put the game away early. That inning was highlighted by a three-run home run by Brandon Ryan. Josh Cameron hit a two RBI single while Austin Portner, Dylan Werries and Colby Standard all added RBI's in the inning.

Garden scored one in the top of the second but back to back four run innings in the third and fourth put the game to bed for the Grizzlies. The Broncbusters had a five-run inning in the fourth but the damage had already been done as Butler cruised to a 19-6 victory to even out the series at two games each.

Four Grizzlies combined for five homeruns in the game (Colby Standard, Austin Portner, Brandon Ryan and Thomas Beiswanger-2). Butler also had five double in the game and six players hit RBI's in the win.

"I thought we did a good job of seeing the pitches up. We were able to take good swings on pitches up in the zone and found some success on Saturday," said hitting coach Gus Strunk. "We treat our offense like a fast break offense in basketball. You may have some empty possessions or one run innings but eventually we are going to start hitting the ball and scoring some runs and that is what happened today."

Butler, (14-3, 2-2) will host Cloud County (12-3, 2-2) on Thursday, March 12 at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado, KS in a conference double header starting at 1:00pm.