vs
| 04/13/24 - Home | 0-6 L |
| 03/27/17 - Away | 3-0 W |
| 03/27/17 - Away | 3-6 L |
| 03/25/16 - Home | 3-2 W |
| 03/25/16 - Home | 6-8 L |
| 03/27/15 - Away | 9-5 W |
Junction City and Garden City are an even 3-3 against one another since March of 2015, but likely not for long. The Bluejays will be defending their home field for the first time this season when they go up against the Buffaloes at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Back in March, Junction City beat South 8-3. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Bluejays.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Garden City). Everything went their way against Goodland on Monday as they made off with a 12-2 victory. The Buffaloes have beaten the Cowboys the last five times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Cowboys has come to flipping the script.
Drew Strecker made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out six over four innings pitched. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Garden City is 4-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 0-5 otherwise. Strecker was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with three RBI. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high.
In other pitching news, Eli Steinmetz looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits.
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Bo Roth, who scored three runs and stole six bases while going 2-for-4. Garden City is 2-1 when Roth posts two or more stolen bases, but 2-5 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Trevin Tabor, who scored two runs and stole five bases.
Garden City hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Goodland struck out seven times.
Garden City pushed their record up to 4-6 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.7 runs over those games. As for Junction City, their win bumped their record up to 2-0.
Junction City suffered a grim 6-0 defeat to Garden City when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can the Bluejays avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
