Busters Drop Saints Twice in Rivalry Matchup

Despite a warm up in the weather, the Seward County Saints bats remained cold Friday night at Williams Stadium in Garden City as Seward's arch rival Garden City Broncbusters knocked them off 8-2 and 4-3 in a Jayhawk West doubleheader to drop the Saints to 5-10 overall on the year. 

It didn't take long for Garden City to get on the board as the Busters got three straight hits to begin their half of the 1^st inning to immediately take a 1-0 lead. 

Garden remained right on Seward starter JB Olson in the bottom half of the 2^nd as their first four hitters of the inning reached base to put another run on the board and the Busters didn't stop there.  A groundout scored Garden's third run of the game and a two run triple made it a 5-0 game. Before the dust settled, Garden City built a 6-0 lead after just two innings of action. 

The Saints finally showed some fight in the 3^rd, getting a two run single from All-American Brent Williams to cut the Garden City lead to 6-2. 

Olson settled in and kept Garden City off the board in the 3^rd and 4^th innings, but Seward's offense couldn't pick up anything off of Buster starter JJ Benes and so the game went to the 5^th with the score still 6-2 in favor of Garden. 

The Saints once again went down in order in the top half of the 5^th and Olson picked up a pair of strikeouts in a blank frame in the bottom half of the inning. 

Seward got a pair of one out walks in the top half of the 6^th, but the Saints were unable to turn it into any runs as they stranded both runners on a groundout to end the inning and keep it a 6-2 Garden City lead. 

Garden's offense woke back up in the bottom half of the 6^th, using back to back singles to start the inning and a sacrifice bunt followed by a single to score both runners to add two insurance runs to stretch their lead to 8-2. 

That was all she wrote for Seward as the Saints went down quietly in their final at bats in the 7^th to fall by an 8-2 final score.

The Saints were outhit 12-6 in the loss, Alex White was the only Seward player to finish with more than one hit in the game while Williams had both of Seward's RBI's in the game.  Olson was tagged with the loss, allowing a career high 12 hits and 8 runs, falling to 2-3 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two started much better for the Saints as they scored three times in the 1^st inning, highlighted by an RBI double from Dillon Drury to take a 3-0 lead right off the bat. 

The Busters threatened to get the runs right back in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with two outs, but Saints starter Hayden Howard got a fly out to end the inning and keep Seward up 3-0. 

It remained a 3-0 game into the 3^rd after Seward left two stranded in the 2^nd and Howard fanned the Garden side in the bottom half of the 2^nd. 

A Seward error played a key role in Garden City getting on the board for the first time in the game in the bottom of the 3^rd inning as the Busters scored three times after the Saints miscue to tie the game up at 3. 

Howard settled in for the Saints and Garden starter Dalton Shalberg settled in from there.  Neither team recorded a hit against the sophomore pitchers in any of the next three innings as the game sailed to the 7^th with the score still knotted at 3. 

It was another empty inning for Seward in the top half of the 7^th and another Saints error cost them in the bottom half of the inning as Garden scored the go ahead run after the defensive blunder to take a 4-3 lead. 

The Saints put a runner in scoring position in the 8^th but couldn't come through with the equalizer and in their final at bats in the 9^th, they went down in order, including a pair of strikeouts against Buster closer Mike McKinney as Garden secured the day one sweep with a 4-3 win. 

Seward managed just 5 hits in the loss, getting a 2 for 4 effort from Logan Nethercot to lead the way.  Chris Juracek took the loss for the Saints, allowing a hit and a run in 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen.  Outside of the 3^rd inning, Howard was electric, going 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 earned runs while punching out 11 Buster hitters. 

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The Saints drop to 5-10 on the year with the two losses and are now just 1-3 through four Jayhawk West games.  Garden City improves to 12-2 and remains unbeaten at 4-0 in conference action. 

The two teams will get after it again Saturday at Williams Stadium in Garden City to wrap up the series.