Saints Sweep Broncbusters in Garden City

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – The Seward County baseball team (23-25, 10-16) came away with their first sweep on the road this season, taking down the Garden City Broncbusters in consecutive games 9-5, 13-9.

GAME ONE RECAP

Tanner King (5-3) picked up the win on the mound, starting his 11th game of the season. King pitched five innings, giving up five runs off three hits. Jordan Pepper came in for relief, not allowing a run in his two innings, while striking out two Broncbusters.

Seward came away with 12 hits, led by freshman Cayde Ward’s monster 4-for-4 day at the plate. Brendan Madsen (3) and Spencer Sackett (2) joined Ward with multiple hits on the day. Ward also led the Saints with three RBI, while Jose Caraballo brought in two runs for the Saints.

The Broncbusters got on board first as Ty Barclay gave Garden City a 1-0 lead with a one-out sac fly to center field. King dug in after that, keeping the Broncbusters off the board until the sixth.

After Benny Ayala and Sackett walked, Caraballo smacked an RBI single to score Ayala and tie the game in the top of the second.

Three quick runs in the top of the third gave Seward the lead. Madsen led off with a triple before Cole Bergdall drove him in with a single. With a 2-2 count, Ward connected on a two-run blast to push the Seward lead to 4-1.

In the top of the fifth, Madsen led off with a double, before advancing to third with a Bergdall fly out to left field. Ward scored hit a single to drive in Madsen to bring the game to 5-1.

A single and double started the sixth inning for the Saints, allowing Caraballo to hit a sac fly to center field. An RBI single by Madsen with the next at bat made the score 7-1.
Garden City got right back into the game in the bottom of the sixth. Two hit batters and a walk loaded the bases for the Broncbusters before Barclay promptly cleared the bases with a grand slam to bring the game to 7-5.

The Saints gave themselves some breathing room in top of the seventh with a Dylan Paul sac fly and a Sackett RBI double.

After allowing the first two batters to reach safely, Pepper struck out on Broncbuster before forcing a double play ball to end the game, giving Seward the 9-5 win.

GAME TWO RECAP

Cole Evans (6-2) picked up his sixth win of the year on the mound, pitching five innings of action. Evans gave up four runs off four hits while striking out four batters. West Reddell came in for relief, but didn’t last long, pitching just two-thirds of an inning, giving up three runs off two hits, walking four batters. Brayden Conner finished out the game, pitching 3.1 innings. He gave up two runs off three hits while striking out two batters.

Seward finished with 15 hits in the second game. Dylan Paul and Joseph Kuhn each finished with four hits, while Kuhn led the Saints with four RBI coming off two two-run home runs.

After a scoreless first inning, the Saints got things rolling in the second. Paul led off with a double before Joseph Kuhn drilled a two-run home run to give Seward an early 2-0 lead.

After a slow start to the third inning, the Broncbusters picked up three runs with two-outs. Robbie Young scored the first run with an RBI single, before Barclay and Corbin Truslow loaded the bases with a double and a walk. A wild pitch and a single by Chris Lara put two more on the board to make the score 3-2.

Paul and Kuhn started the fourth inning with a single and double to give the Saints runners in scoring position with no outs. Ben Tsui drove both in with a single up the middle to put the Saints back on top.

The Saints exploded for five runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding 9-3 lead. Ward drove in the first run with a sac fly to center field, before Kuhn smacked his second two-run dinger of the game. Cole Bergdall ended the scoring with a bomb two-run bomb of his own over the left field wall.

Seward put up three more to give Cole a cushion on the mound in the sixth inning. With two on and one out, Paul hit a double to score Caraballo and push Ward to third. An intentional walk on Kuhn loaded the bases, but the idea backfired as an error on Benny Ayala’s hit scored two runs to push the lead to 12-3.

The Broncbusters cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Chris Lara hit a leadoff home run for the first run of the inning. A double and a walk gave Garden two bases runners with just one out before Clint Allen hit a two RBI single to make the score 12-6.

Two walks loaded the bases Garden before Reddell walked a third straight runner to score the fourth run of the inning for the Broncbusters. Brayden Conner came and finished the inning out, forcing a ground out to third base.

Nine straight balls to start the top of the eighth put runners at first and second for the Saints. Paul picked up his fourth hit of the ball game with an RBI single through the left side to make the score 13-7.

Seward will look to win their first conference series of the year when they host Garden City on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for a double header at Brent Gould Field.

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Game 1 audio:

Game 2 audio: