GCHS falls to Dodge in WAC doubleheader
Story Credit: GCHS Athletics
Garden City High School’s baseball team had high hopes that a home doubleheader on Tuesday against rival Dodge City would provide the Buffaloes an opportunity to stay atop the standings of the Western Athletic Conference.
But as has been the case in several games this spring, the Buffs couldn’t sustain its offense, and the pitching and defense struggled which resulted in a damaging twin bill loss by scores of 8-3 and 13-5.
“It was a long night and wasn’t pretty,” first-year coach Lance Allred said. “I think this was one of those times where we put too much pressure on ourselves with it being Dodge and trying to keep our lead in the WAC. We got too amped up and things just didn’t go our way.”
The two losses dropped the Buffs to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in the WAC. Dodge City, meanwhile, improved to 7-8 overall and 3-4 in the WAC. The Buffs will play a single game at Hays on Friday (May 1) before hosting Wichita West on May 8 in a non-conference doubleheader.
The Buffs were in a 1-1 tie with the Demons through five innings in the opening game, only to see the Demons scored twice in the sixth and then pull away with a 5-run seventh. The Buffs scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough.
Culden Plankenhorn went 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs while Ethan Ackerman and Jonathan Almanza had doubles, and Jakobe Rathbun blasted a home run.
Eli Steinmetz pitched well enough to win the game, giving up just four hits over six innings, but of the three runs he was saddled with, only one was earned. He walked one and had seven strikeouts.
“Eli was one of the few bright spots for us,” Allred said. “Anytime he’s on the mound, we’re going to have a chance and be in the game.”
Allred said Steinmetz got the Buffs out of two critical situations early. One was where Dodge had a runner on third with no outs, and Steinmetz got the Buffs out with no damage. Another was runners on second and third and no outs, and once again Steinmetz shut the Demons down. The one run in the Dodge third was unearned.
Despite outhitting the Demons 8-6 in the opener, four errors proved costly.
“There were times that the games felt like last year,” Allred said. “We’ve changed some of that culture, but there are moments where we revert. We haven’t found that time when you just say, “enough is enough. We’re going to stop and move one.”
Game 2 was a rough one for the pitching staff as Dodge scored three runs in the third and fourth, two in the sixth and five in the seventh. The Buffs scored three runs in the first to take an early lead. They tacked on two more runs in the sixth to pull within 8-5 before the Demons erupted for five runs in the seventh.
Almanza went 3-for-3 with a double; Strecker was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs.
The Buffs used five pitchers in the game with Strecker getting the loss after giving up three runs on three hits in two innings of work. He struck out four and walked two. In all, the pitching corps issued seven walks and had eight strikeouts.
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Western Athletic Conference
Tuesday, April 28
At Clint Lightner Field
Game 1
DODGE CITY 8, GARDEN CITY 3
Dodge City…001…002…5…–…8…6…3
Garden City…001…000…2…–…3…8…4
Pitching—Dodge City: Bogner, Sheck (7) and Ochs; Garden City: Steinmetz, R. Plankenhorn (7), Almanza (7) and C. Plankenhorn. 2B—Garden City (Ackerman, Almanza). 3B—Dodge City (Sheck). HR—Dodge City (Gonzalez); Garden City (Rathbun).
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Game 2
DODGE CITY 13, GARDEN CITY 5
Dodge City…003…302…5…–…13…14…1
Garden City…300…002…0…–…5…8…1
Pitching—Dodge City: Gifford, Sheck (2) and Ochs; Garden City: Rathbun, Almanza (3), Strecker (4), Wells (6), R. Plankenhorn (7) and C. Plankenhorn. 2B—Dodge City (DonJUan, Gonzalez); Garden City (Almanza). HR—Dodge City (Sheck).
