Grizzlies take three of four in conference opening series with Garden City

The Butler Baseball team (5-2, 3-1) took three out of four in their opening KJCCC series with Garden City sweeping the games yesterday at McDonald Stadium.

With it being the first home game of the season for the Grizzlies, they were eager to perform and protect their home turf. They did just that picking up a thrilling 12-11 game one win that went into extra innings and followed it up with a game two victory winning it 11-5.

Game One: 12-11 (9-innings)

Game one saw the Broncbusters hitting a two-run homerun in the first to take a 2-0 lead right off the bat. Butler answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take back the lead at 3-2. Again, Garden City had answer and plated four in the second to take a 6-3 lead. Jonah Cox and Sam Siegel both had RBI's in the third to bring the game within one, 6-5 and a fifth inning Josh Cameron homerun knotted it back up at 6-6.

Butler wasn't done in the fifth as Zach Stroh and Camden Jurgensen both had RBI's giving the lead back to the Grizzlies 8-6. Garden City pieced together another three-run inning in the top of the sixth with the help of a Kyle Jameson two RBI single to lead it 10-8. Butler again had an answer. Noah Argenta would score off a throwing error brining the Grizzlies within one run going into the bottom of the seventh. Johnathan Contreras came up big hitting a solo shot over the left field fence to tie it at 10-10 sending it into extra innings.

Geoff Marlow put the pressure on the Grizzlies with a solo homerun in the top of the eighth forcing the Grizzlies to score a run to keep the game alive. Josh Cameron came up big for the second time in the game hitting another homerun out to right field sending the game into the ninth.  Andrew Wisner pitched the ninth walking one and striking out three to hold the Broncbusters scoreless. A Noah Argenta single to right scored Zach Stroh to end the game in favor of the Grizzlies 12-11.

Wisner picked up the win for the Grizzlies, his first of the season. Josh Cameron had a day at the plate going 4-4 with three RBI's and four runs scored hitting two homeruns and a double. Jonah Cox finished 3-5 with two RBI's and two runs scored and three stolen bases. Sam Siegel was 2-4 with an RBI, a double and a run scored.

Game Two: 11-5

After winning game one in come from behind fashion, the Grizzlies had all the momentum heading into the final game of the four-game series. Jackson Syring got it going in his first at bat hitting a leadoff solo homerun. Butler went on to score three runs in the first and plated another four in the second to take an early 7-0 lead after two. Garden scored their first run in the third and tacked on another three in the fourth. RBI's from Noah Argenta and Josh Cameron in the fifth inning put the Grizzlies up 11-4 and gave them enough cushion heading into the final inning. Miguel Ramos hit a solo homerun in the top of the seventh but wouldn't be enough as Butler finished the series with an 11-5 victory.

Noah Argenta was 3-3 in game two with five RBI's hitting two doubles. Jackson Syring went 2-3 with two RBI's and three runs cored and a stolen base.

Tanner Leslie got the start and picked up his first win of the season pitching 3.2 innings allowing four runs, three earned, off of four hits. He walked four and struck out four.

NEXT UP: Butler (5-2, 3-1) will get right back into KJCCC West play as they host Cloud County on Friday, March 19 with the first pitch of the double header coming at 1:00pm from McDonald Stadium in El Dorado, KS.