Silhouette

Issue date: 4/27/06 Section: Sports

Dusty Washburn, Hays, Kan., tags out a Cloud County runner on an errant throw, Saturday, April 23.

Media Credit: Julian Ortiz Brycen Bell, Ft. Collins, Colo., slides into third base during the April 8 games against Dodge City.

The playoffs: a time of excitement, anxiety and where dreams will be realized or shattered. Following last year's debacle that saw the Busters lose in the Region VI championship game, the Busters are back and ready for the playoffs.

The '06 season was one full of surprises for the team. After starting strong, the team faltered momentarily and dropped eight of ten games. The Busters endured a six-game losing streak, losing to Dodge City, Butler, Lamar and the opener against Colby.

"We just ran into a bad stretch of baseball," Andy Preston, Hutchinson, Kan., said. "We didn't play very well. Things weren't going our way; we started making some errors, weren't making quality pitches and our bats got cold."

Then in game two against Colby, just when things looked bleak for the team, they had another surprise in-store.

Trailing 3-2, on the road in Colby, the Buster bats came to life in the top of the sixth and again in the top of the ninth inning, earning Adam Morrison, Denver, Colo., a complete game victory.

"It was great to see Adam out on the mound competing for nine innings," Chris Finnegan, head coach, said. "His pitch count was low and the defense made some big time plays [behind him]."

Baseball is a funny game. En route to winning the 2004 World Series the Boston Red Sox coined the term "idiots" to describe the team's, "out for fun on the field" play. While not true "idiots", Preston believes some of those characteristics help.

"You got to have a short-term memory," Preston said. "You put the losses behind you and keep the confidence from the wins. Baseball's a game of adversity. You have to learn how to get through when things aren't going your way."

After the 4-3 victory, the Busters started another streak, one displaying their resiliency.

"The team's never quit," Preston said. "We kept fighting and finally things started going our way and we're playing really good right now. We've turned it around at the right time of the season. If we'd quit, we'd have lost the last eight games."

They didn't and the Busters went on to win seven in a row, sweeping Pratt, Barton County and Cloud County, picking up six crucial wins against conference foes.

"[Six] wins was huge," Finnegan said. "We played very well and put ourselves into position to host the first round of the playoffs."

Falling short of their annual goal of being crowned Jayhawk West champions, the season could, in part, be viewed as a disappointment; fortunately the Busters met another of their goals.

"One of our goals was to be Jayhawk West champions," Cunningham said. "If we didn't get that, we had a goal after that: to have a home playoff [series]; that's what we got."

The Busters end the regular season with a record of 33-20 (18-14, conference) records that Preston believes could have been worse.

"We played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation," Preston said. "We played very well against the competition; there's nothing to be ashamed of."

Bouncing back to end the season on a high-note to earn a home playoff series is something that was on the minds of the Busters because it would provide a slight advantage.

"It's very important," Preston said. "We don't have to travel. We get to play on our home field one more time."

Cunningham agrees with Preston, saying that playing at home, in front of the fans, is helpful to any team. However, it should not be a team's main concern.

"It's almost as if we're going there [away] to play," Cunningham said. "We're still going to have the same mindset. We're just going to do everything we can to win the first two games."

The Busters will begin a best of three-games (nine innings each) series against the Coffeyville Red Ravens at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Williams Stadium.

The winner advances to the second round and will play in Wichita, Kan., on May 6. The games will play played in Lawrence Dumont Stadium, home of the Wranglers, the Kansas City Royals' AA affiliate.

"We should win this weekend," Preston said. "Not to overlook Coffeyville, but we should win two of three from them and be ready for Region VI. There's no reason why we can't get another winning streak in the postseason going, win five, six in a row and go to Grand Junction [site of NJCAA World Series]."

If Preston and the Busters are able to get on a win streak again, there could be more shattered dreams this year. This time the Busters could be doing the shattering.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools