Walk-off blast dooms Busters in 4-3 loss to Lamar

Lamar, CO (westernkansasnews.com)-Garden City baseball coach Chris Finnegan has constantly used the analogy that his team appears to be standing in quicksand. With a one-run lead in the ninth Wednesday, he was hoping that sand had eroded. It didn’t. 

With two outs and one on, Luke Stratman connected on a Marcus McKinney fastball, blasting it over the outfield wall and sending Lamar home victorious with a 4-3 walk-off win over Garden City. 

“Even with the loss, I feel our pitching was good today,” Finnegan said. “Especially our bullpen.”

After starting pitcher Tyler Franek gave up solo blasts to Donny Ortiz with one out in the first and Brandon Lamphier-Shaffer in the second, Finnegan turned to his bullpen, which combined to shutout the Lopes over the next six innings. 

Meantime the offense got a spark from Frankie Alvarez, who led off the game with a solo home run. Garden City added runs in the sixth and the seventh, taking a 3-2 lead into the final frame. 

Next up: at Dodge City, Saturday, April 11-12:45 p.m. pregame; 1 p.m. first pitch ONLINE ONLY westernkansasnews.com

Softball

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