Buff’s regular season ends with 11-15 record
Photo Courtesy: Brad Nading/The Garden City Telegram
Story Credit: GCHS Athletics
The final two games of the regular season ended much like earlier games of the campaign for the Garden City Buffaloes’ baseball team. Playing some of its best baseball in early innings only resulting in opponents coming up with big innings in part due to costly errors by the Buffs’ defense.
That was the situation that resulted in Tuesday’s doubleheader loss for the Buffs against one of the top Class 3-2-1A teams in Kansas – the Thomas More Prep-Marian Monarchs from Hays. The Buffs lost the opener 11-5 and then dropped in the nightcap, 19-8, giving up the most runs in a single game all season.
Head coach Lance Allred and the Buffs will await regional assignments, and pairings will send them on the road. Pairings and sites will be announced Saturday.
In Tuesday’s opener, the Buffs battled the Monarchs (24-1) on even terms through four innings with the score knotted at 2-all. But the floodgates opened in the final three innings as TMP scored four runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and two in the seventh while the Buffs did add three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Of the six hits for the Buffs, Jakobe Rathbun contributed by going 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Gavin Wells drove in a pair of runs. Drew Strecker had a double and Rathbun a triple to account for the two extra base hits.
Ryder Plankenhorn was the Buffs’ starting pitcher and went 4.2 innings, giving up six hits, six runs (only 2 earned), walked three and had 1 strikeout. Rathbun pitched the next 1.1 innings, giving up two hits, three runs (all earned), walked three and struck out 2. Andrew Wessels pitched the final inning, giving up two hits, two runs (no earned), walked one and struck out one. In all, TMP had just six earned runs.
In the nightcap, the Buffs took an early 1-0 lead through two innings before the Monarchs erupted for 10 runs in the third and then added 9 more in the fourth. In those two innings, TMP put together 9 hits, utilized a pair of 2-run home runs, 2 doubles while the Buffs helped with four walks, a hit batter, a passed ball and a wild pitch to account for the 19 runs.
The Buffs’ one bright inning came with two outs when Culden Plankenhorn singled (Anthony Ortiz used as courtesy runner); Rathbun singled and Strecker followed with a 2-run double. Almanza reached on an error that allowed Strecker to score, and then Gio Benitez and Ryder Plankenhorn had run-scoring singles.
With the pitching corps thinned out because of innings pitched, Allred utilized four pitchers in the game. Strecker pitched two innings; Robert Smith and Wessels each pitched two-thirds of an inning, and Almanza finished the final 1.2 innings. The staff gave up 18 hits, walked eight and struck out six.
Game 1
TMP-MARIAN 11, GARDEN CITY 5
TMP-Marian…101…043…2…–…11…10…2
Garden City…101…000…3…–…5…6…4
Pitching—TMP: Bealmann, Nehls (6) and C. Dinkel; Garden City: R. Plankenhorn, Rathbun (5), Wessels (7) and C. Plankenhorn. 2B—TMP: C. Dinkel; Garden City: Strecker. 3B—Garden City: Strecker.
Game 2
TMP-MARIAN 19, GARDEN CITY 8
TMP-Marian…00(10)…90…–…19…12…1
Garden City…105…20…–…8…9…1
Pitching—TMP: C. Dinkel, Nehls (4) and Fabrizius; Garden City: Strecker, Smith (3), Wessels (3), Almanza (4) and C. Plankenhorn. 2B—TMP: Liles, Seib; Garden City: Strecker 2. HR—TMP: C. Dinkel, Schmeidler; Garden City: Strecker.
