Butler Baseball Splits Conference Opener with Garden City

EL DORADO, Kan. – The Butler Grizzlies opened KJCCC play with a split against the Garden City Broncbusters in Thursday's doubleheader at McDonald Stadium.

Game 1 (7 inn.) – Garden City 16, Butler 3

The Grizzlies stumbled out of the gate in the opener, falling 16–3 as Garden City controlled the game from the first pitch. The Broncbusters launched a solo home run to center on the very first offering of the afternoon and never trailed.

Garden City built a 7–0 lead before Butler broke through with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Broncbusters responded with nine unanswered runs, and Butler added one more in the seventh.

Garden City out‑hit Butler 20–4.

Shane Holman (L, 2–2) took the loss, working 4.1 innings.

Game 2 (9 inn.) – Butler 15, Garden City 10

The Grizzlies bounced back in a big way, earning their first conference win of the season with a 15–10 victory in game two.

Butler struck first on Jackson Ellison's two‑run homer in the second inning. Garden City answered with a run in the third and a seven‑run fourth to take an 8–2 lead. The Grizzlies responded immediately, plating five runs in the bottom half to pull within one.

Trailing 9–7 in the fifth, Butler erupted for four runs to reclaim the lead, then added four more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

The Grizzlies collected 15 hits on 39 at‑bats.

• Tanay Vyas went 3‑for‑5 with three RBI and a home run.

• Jackson Ellison finished 3‑for‑5 with a homer, two RBI, and three runs scored.

• Amarion Sailer delivered a three‑run blast to left‑center, extending Butler's lead to 15–9.

Cooper Annin made his fourth start of the season, throwing 3.1 innings with five hits allowed and three strikeouts.

Connor Robinson (W, 1–1) earned his first win of the year with 3.2 innings of relief.

Next up: The Grizzlies and Broncbusters meet again Saturday for games three and four of the series at Williams Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.