Broncos Bring the Beef to Even Series

The El Dorado Broncos beat the Liberal Bee Jays 5-2 in front of a big Fan Appreciation Night crowd at Brent Gould Field. National Beef bought out the game but the Broncos brought the beef in the win.

With the wind blowing in from right, this was a pitcher’s dual tied at two until the ninth when the BJ’s faltered late. The Broncos scored three in the ninth with only one hit.

Liberal scored first when Dalton Bernardi scored from home as Derek Miller stole second base. The Broncos tied it in the sixth. Liberal took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Jake Barrios singled home Bernardi with two outs.

The Broncos tied the game again with a run in the eighth. El Dorado then broke it open in the ninth. The bases were loaded with no outs but a ground ball to first resulted in an out at home on a force out. But the ensuing throw from home to first resulted in an error and a run. Pitcher Matt Robertson lobbed a single to left to make it 4-2 and a ground out to second resulted in the fifth and final run.

Sebastian Santos pitched well for the BJ’s going six strong innings striking out five and walking one. Ray Ashford pitched a scoreless seventh. Trevor Lundgrin pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed a run. Kyle Brady pitched 1/3 before BJ closer John Branum took the loss without allowing a solid hit. One run was unearned.

Liberal has lost five of their last six and is 17-15 in the Jayhawk and 25-15 overall. They are an underwhelming 8-8 at Brent Gould Field in league games. El Dorado is 26-20 overall and 13-18 in the Jayhawk.

Before the game, Dayne Parker was named the BJ Player of the Year. Parker is the BJ shortstop from Wichita State and Roff, Oklahoma. He is hitting .380 with four homers and 29 RBI’s. Jay Hay was named the BJ Director of the Year.

Liberal hosts El Dorado for their final home game Sunday night at 7 p.m. on Brent Gould Field. Southern Pioneer is the buyout sponsor. The game will air on Talkradio 1270 and kscbnews.net.