Busters open season with split in Texas
Warner hits team's first homerun
Justin Burns
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports
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The Busters defeated NE Texas in game one 7-5. Dusty Noraker, Aurora, Colo., led the way offensively with four hits, three of them for extra bases. Zac Barger, Fruita, Colo., had three RBIs in the game. Ryan Merrell, Lindale, Texas, picked up his first win of the season on the mound for the Busters while Kyle Oestereicher, Arvada, Colo., picked up his first save.
"We played pretty well for the first week but we still have a lot to learn and experience so we can make another run at Grand Junction," Barger said.
"Our performance over the weekend was great," Head Coach Chris Finnegan said. "We played hard and together as a team for four games."
In game two, the Busters scored seven quick runs in the first two innings to take a early lead, but NE Texas chipped away eventually winning the game 8-7.
"We sat on a lead and let them chip away and eventually good teams will win those types of games," Finnegan said.
Christian Lucero, Farmington, N.M., Luke Fisher, Grand Junction, Colo., and Ben Warner, Canberra, Australia, each had two hits in the game.
One of Warner's two hits was the Busters first homerun of the season.
Hayden Daugherty, Elk City, Okla., pitched a complete game in a 9-1 win for the Busters. All nine players for the Busters had at least one hit in the game.
The Busters fell to NE Texas 3-0 in their final game of the weekend.
Pitching for the Busters was Nate Van Bibber. Bibber had a no-hitter through seven innings before giving up three runs in the eighth.
Dan Oracion, Dallas, led the team in hits with two.
"Our pitching staff did extremely good and the hitters stepped up when we needed them," Oracion said.
The Busters will open their home schedule Sunday as they take on Otero, Colo.
"This will be a tough week for us and we will get a chance to really see what we need to focus on," Finnegan said.
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