Garden City Holds Off Seward Rally For 8-7 Win in Game 1

Photo by: Adam Shrimplin/Garden City Athletics

[SOUNDCLOUD PLAYER]

Garden City, KS-Garden City Community College held off a late rally from Seward County to secure an 8-7 win in Game 1 of a conference matchup Thursday at Williams Stadium.

Garden City built an early lead and answered each Seward push just enough to hold on, despite being out-hit 13-8.

Sean Philpotts sparked the offense with a two-run home run in the second inning, while Mason Tafoya added a solo shot in the third. Sean Togher delivered a key two-run double in the fifth as part of a three-run inning that proved to be the difference.

Seward threatened throughout, led by Hayden Ramage, who drove in three runs with a bases-clearing triple during a five-run sixth inning that briefly gave Seward momentum.

Garden City jumped in front early with three runs in the second, highlighted by Philpotts’ home run after a leadoff double by Karson Evans. Tafoya extended the lead to 4-0 with his solo homer in the third.

After Seward cut the deficit to 4-1, Garden City responded in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Togher doubled to bring in two runs, and a third scored in the inning to push the lead to 7-1.

Seward answered with its biggest inning in the sixth, scoring five runs on five hits, including Ramage’s triple that cleared the bases and trimmed the deficit to one run.

Garden City added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI double from Roy Higinbotham, which proved critical after Seward added a run in the seventh to make it 8-7.

Sean Togher (3-2) earned the win, allowing one run over five innings with six strikeouts. The bullpen bent late but closed it out, with Peyton Seelye securing the final outs.

Michael Lujan (0-1) took the loss for Seward after allowing seven runs over 4 1/3 innings.

Key moment
Togher’s bases-loaded double in the fifth inning flipped momentum and gave Garden City a lead it would not surrender.

Key stat
Garden City scored in four of the first six innings and held off Seward despite being out-hit 13-8.