Barton drops two at Pratt; clinches tie for 3rd in West

Barton drops two at Pratt; clinches tie for 3rd in West
The Barton County Community College baseball team lost a pair of games Wednesday at Pratt, but clinched at least a tie for 3rd despite the losses. Barton secured at least a tie for 3rd when Cloud County lost a game in a doubleheader split with Colby. Barton lost 12-2 and 6-5 in 8 innings to Pratt.

Barton is now 29-19 overall and 17-11 in the Jayhawk West. Seward has completed its West schedule, clinching the title with a 26-6 record. Hutch, currently 22-8, will finish 2nd. The rest of the conference remains under .500 with Cloud County (13-15) as the only team with a chance to catch the Cougars for 3rd. Barton still has 4 conference games remaining.

Highlights
Both games got away from the Cougars late in the contests. In the opener, Derek McDaid and Russell Horton locked up in a battle of pitchers through the first 4 innings with each team scoring 1 run. After falling behind 1-0 in the 2nd, Barton tied the game in the 3rd with a Jeff Christy solo homer.

Pratt took a 4-1 lead on Barton in the bottom of the 5th before the Cougars trimmed that margin to 4-2 when Wes Renfro drove in Michael Roberts. Things, however, fell apart for the Cougars in the bottom of the 6th as Pratt put 8 runs across the plate, including a grand slam to put Pratt up by 10 runs and end the game.

The second game was an even tougher loss for the Cougars. Starter Chris Klick worked his way out of an opening inning jam, giving up 2 runs to the Beavers. Pratt made it 3-0 in the 2nd, but from Klick settled in a held Pratt scoreless the next 4 innings. During that time, the Cougars began to rally. Roberts scored in the 4th on a T.J. Liles singles to cut the lead to 3-1. In the top of the 6th, Christy leadoff with his second solo homer of the day to make it 3-2. Roberts followed with a double and later scored on a ground out to even the score at 3-all.

The Cougars took the lead for the first time all day, scoring 2 runs in the top of the 7th for a 5-3 lead. A hit batsman, single, and walk loaded the bases with just 1 out for the Cougars. A Roberts fly ball to right scored Adam Searle, who entered the game for Steve Elson after he was hit in the elbow by a pitch. Liles followed with a 2-out single to score Glenn Jackson for a 5-3 lead. Another base on balls loaded the bases, but the Cougars left them that way.

In the bottom of the 7th, Barton ace Andrew Burdine entered the game in relief for just the 3rd time this season and was met by a single. The Beavers eventually made it 5-4 with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd thanks to a Barton fielding error. With a 2-2 count on Pratt's Matt Garlington, he singled to score the tying run and send the game extra innings. Pratt won the game in the bottom of the 8th with the help of another Barton error. Barton committed 5 errors in the game.

Next
May 2 -- at Garden City, 4 pm
May 3 -- at Colby, 1 pm
May 4 -- at Johnson County, 1 pm