Dodge City baseball opened a KJCCC series with our rivals to the west the Garden City Broncbusters and the Conquistadors would outduel the Broncbusters in both games earning 1-0 and 9-5 victories.
The wins move the Conqs to 29-17 on the season and 13-9 in KJCCC action, while also making it 10 wins in the last 12 meetings in the series with Garden City.
The series has a quick turnaround as the Conqs will battle Garden City again to wrap up the series in Dodge City on Friday, April 19th in a doubleheader starting at 1:00 pm.
Game 1 – Won 1-0 at Garden City
The series opener would prove to be a pitcher's duel as both starters for the Conqs and Broncbusters would go the distance. The Conqs would get on the board early as Juan Rivera opened the game with a walk and would come in to score in the top of the first on a Max Towchik RBI single. That 1-0 lead would hold up for the Conqs as Garret Carter was strong on the mound shutting down Garden City. The Broncbusters threatened to tie the game in the fifth but a runners inference call negated the would-be tying run and then the Conqs would see Garden City open the seventh with a double but Carter would get the next three batters out and the Broncbusters stranded the tying run at third as the Conqs picked up the 1-0 win.
Carter was spectacular on the mound going the distance with a complete game shutout, tossing seven innings giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out nine.
The Conqs only had six hits in the game as Rivera, Joseph Dominguez, Towchik, Peter Tassler, Jordan Rodriguez, and Brady Henke each tallied a hit.
Game 2 – Won 9-5 at Garden City
The Conqs would snag the early lead again like game one as the Conqs tallied a run in the top of the first on a Brian Hallum sac fly to score Rodriguez. Garden City would even the contest up in the bottom of the third with a run but the Conqs answered quickly in the top of the fourth plating two to regain the lead. RBI singles by Nathan Harmon and Tassler would highlight the fourth inning for the Conqs. In the sixth, each team would tally a run and then in the seventh both teams would score two each making it 6-4. The Conqs would add some insurance in the top of the ninth inning scoring three more runs on a sac fly by Harmon and then a Garden City error would lead to two runs for the Conqs. Garden City continued to fight in the bottom of the ninth but would only manage one run and the Conqs grabbed the 9-5 win.
Conqs pounded out 14 hits in the win led by Rodriguez who was 3-5 with a run scored. Hallum was 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Harmon added a 2-4 game with three RBI. Nick Gray and Carter Olson each had two hits in the contest.
On the mound, Michael Lopez tossed three innings giving up just one run on two hits and three walks, while striking out three. Luis Santiago earned the win in relief tossing five effective innings giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out three. Josh Nolte finished out the game by tossing the ninth giving up one run on a walk and striking out two.
