Buffs Baseball falters in high-octane comeback bid
Wichita, Kan. (Western Kansas News) – It was an emotional rollercoaster Thursday evening for the Garden City High School Baseball team that saw the ultimate momentum shift before falling just short in the first round of the 6A regional.
It was an atmosphere of relaxed anticipation in the dugout for the Buffs, as they surveyed the first game of the regional tournament between Washburn Rural and Wichita South. The atmosphere in the dugout was calm from the boys in brown as the minutes ticked away before their first pitch against the #2 seed in the west and host of the regional, Haysville-Campus; an embodiment of a “nothing to lose” mentality.
There’s something primal to Kansans about having two mascots like the Colts and the Buffaloes do battle on a warm, late-spring afternoon, to determine who advances to the regional championship. Garden City opened the bout going down in order, with leadoff batter Kyler Metzen striking out, Jakobe Rathbun being put out on a grounder to second, and Culden Plankenhorn being put out on an infield bounce to short. Campus, feeling the momentum, rattled off two hits before loading the bases as the 3-hole batter, Hagen Warkins, reached on an error. What had been, twenty minutes prior, a facade of relaxed confidence, had quickly cracked for Garden City, prompting a mound visit from head-man Anthony Ortiz. Coach Ortiz clearly, and animatedly, told his infield and senior pitcher in Metzen to relax and play their game. The pep-talk had the desired effect, and despite giving up three runs, Garden City began to right the ship.
From there, both teams would blank each other in the second and third innings, before Campus added one more run in the fourth and the fifth to take a comfortable 5-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning. That’s when Garden City turned the game on its head and gave one of the better teams in the state of Kansas a run for their money.
It began with a Jakobe Rathbun leadoff single right in between the shortstop and third baseman, followed by two more consecutive singles through the 5-6 hole from Plankenhorn and Drew Strecker that loaded the bases with no outs. With three ducks on the pond in a five-run lead game, the pressure began to mount for Campus’s sophomore pitcher in Trace Van Asdale, as he walked Johnny Almanza off a 3-1 count, forcing a Garden City run home and prompting a mound visit that sparked the Garden City dugout and travelling crowd into a frenzy. The Campus coaching staff decided to make a pitching change with reliever Ryan McWilliams, who immediately gave up a single off an 0-2 count to Bo Roth, driving in another run. The Roth single was blasted, as the other hits in the inning had been, right through the gap between short and third base, making it a 5-2 ballgame. With the designated hitter Gio Benitez up to bat, McWilliams gave up another single through the 5-6 hole that kept the bases loaded and drove home the Buffs’ third run. Despite retiring Andrew Wessels by way of the strikeout, an errant pitch to the bottom of the order batter in Kaven Carabajal brought home a fourth run for Garden City that ran a nervous titter through the crowd and made the game 5-4. What had been a comfortable, five-run lead for Campus, was upended by a Garden City comeback bid that saw 4 runs scored on 5 hits and despite it all, left the bases loaded after Carabajal flew out into left field and Rathbun went down swinging in his second at-bat of the 6th inning.
With the crowd holding their collective breath as the #15 seed in the west had placed themselves squarely in the conversation for an instant-classic finish, Garden City’s Kyler Metzen would retire Shinkle and Simmons in the bottom of the order for Campus, before walking the top of the order batter in Camden Schroeder, prompting Coach Ortiz to make a pitching change and put Jakobe Rathbun on the mound to close the game. With one runner on, Campus’s Lukas White would fly out to the second baseman Ackerman, and give Garden City the opportunity they needed to tie the game in the top of the seventh.
Unfortunately, the Garden City season would end in order, with Plankenhorn striking out as the leadoff batter, Strecker hitting a high infield fly to the second baseman in Schroeder, and Johnny Almanza blasting a shot into deep right field, only to be caught by outfielder Donovan Simmons to wrap up the game.
Garden City entered the top of the sixth with no runs scored, only 2 hits, 2 errors, and left 3 on base across the previous five innings, before recording 4 runs on 5 hits with no errors and leaving the bases loaded. Campus would eventually fall 1-0 in eight innings to Washburn Rural in the regional championship game after being scared mightily by the upside-minded Buffaloes.
Make no mistake, this Garden City squad, who had only three seniors in their starting rotation, has shown flashes in the pan this season for what could be an exciting, explosive team in the coming years. Garden City finishes the 2025 season 6-17 (2-10). With their season on the line, the Buffaloes made believers out of everyone in Wichita, with a quiet promise of what’s to come with young talent on the roster.
