Grizzlies Flood Basepaths in Wins at Garden City

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – Butler baseball got its second doubleheader sweep of conference play this season on Thursday, grabbing two wins over the Garden City Broncbusters at Williams Stadium.

Butler (15-11, 7-3 KJCCC) won game one 12-8 before handling the Broncbusters (2-21, 0-6) 20-6 in game two.

The two squads will close out the series on Saturday at McDonald Stadium with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

Game 1: Butler 12, Garden City 8

Butler delivered offensively with 10 hits, also being aided by Garden City pitchers hitting eight Grizzly batters.

Butler second baseman CJ Reid led the game off with a solo home run in the first inning.

Leading 5-4 heading into the fifth, Butler plated five runs in the fifth to build a 10-4 lead which helped push them to victory. Two runs were plated on bases loaded hit batters, one on a bases loaded walk, one on a wild pitch and one on a Cole Murrell RBI single.

Caden Kickhaefer (W, 4-1) started on the mound for Butler and earned the win, throwing 4.0 innings. He scattered four hits, allowed four runs and struck out four.

Reid finished with three hits and two RBI, Anibal Rivera drove in two runs and Murrell had two hits and two RBI. Jaron Brown had three walks.

Jack Haag threw the seventh to close the game out. He allowed a leadoff double before getting the next three outs.

Garden City used five pitchers with starter Andrew Bowman (L, 0-4) taking the loss as he allowed five runs on five hits.

Broncbuster shortstop Brett Barber drove in four runs.

Game 2: Butler 20, Garden City 6

Butler's offense dominated in game two with 20 runs on 15 hits. They were also aided by 15 walks and five hit batters as Garden City used 11 different pitchers.

The Grizzlies plated 17 runs in the first four innings with a six spot in the first that set the tone.

Micah Kobuszewski led Butler with four hits, two RBI and two walks. Charlie Marcantel drove in five runs on two hits. Frank Garcia scored four runs while CJ Reid and Jordan Hedrick had three hits apiece.

The 20 runs for the Grizzlies tied a season-high as they also plated 20 in a win over EOSC on Feb. 22nd in Wilburton.

Jack Laird was the starting pitcher for Butler and threw 3.2 innings allowing four runs on four hits. He struggled a bit with command, walking seven batters and striking out six.

Dayton Pelfrey (W, 2-0) earned the win tossing 1.1 innings as he entered in the third and completed the fourth. He allowed no runs and struck out three.