Barton gets several players honored on All-Jayhawk West teams

Barton gets several players honored on All-Jayhawk West teams
The Barton County Community College baseball team had 9 players selected to the All-Jayhawk West teams, highlighted by a pair of 1st team selection. David Wilson and Anthony Dreiling were 1st team selection for the Cougars while 4 more were picked to the 2nd team and 3 more to honorable mention. Seward County swept the top honors for the players with Erik Hegsted being selected as the Player-of-the-Year and Christian Kowalchuk as the freshman of the year. Butler's Steve Johnson was selected as the Coach of the Year. Butler and Seward tied for the Jayhawk West championship while Barton finished with the 3rd best record in the West – 3 games back.

Barton 1st team Selections
David Wilson, center fielder
Wilson capped off a tremendous season with one of the best weekends in Barton history. In his final weekend of play – four homes games – Wilson went 12-for-15 at the plate with 15 RBI. Wilson also scored 8 times, belted out 7 doubles and added a home run. For the season, Wilson led the Cougars with a .385 batting average, 8 home runs (tied for the lead), 67 RBI, 18 doubles and a .620 slugging percentage. The sophomore started every game in center field and didn't commit an error during those 56 games in 98 chances. He had 6 assists from the outfield.

Anthony Dreiling, shortstop
The sophomore shortstop was the only other Cougar besides Wilson to start all 56 games this season, ending with a .333 average at the plate. Dreiling scored 49 times from this No. 2 spot in the order and drove in 28 runs as well. His on base percentage of .441 was the tops on Barton's team. He also led the team with 4 triples and 5 sacrifice bunts. His 28 walks were 2nd for the Cougars. Dreiling fielded .906 from one of the most active and error-prone positions in the field, leading Barton with 149 assists.

Barton 2nd team Selections
Tyler Rzepka, catcher
Rzepka made 4 of the past 5 years the Cougars have had their catcher honored on the All West team. Rzepka threw out 25 percent of the players attempting to steal on him this season from behind the plate and was one of the top hitters for the Barton the plate. The sophomore hit .313 for this season, one of 7 players for Barton to hit better than .300. Barton scored nearly 7 runs per games this season and hit .316 as a team. Rzepka was 3rd on the team in both slugging percentage (.438) and on base percentage (.435).

Marc Albers, 2nd base
Albers was 1 of 3 freshman honored for Barton, garnering 2nd team All-West honors at 2nd base. Albers helped anchor the middle infield for Barton this season, fielding .954 from his 2nd base spot. Albers had 72 assists and was involved in 20 of Barton's 30 double plays. His 151 chances were 4th most on the team. At the plate, Albers hit .333 from near the bottom of the order, where he provided not only a 2nd spark but some punch as well. In addition to scoring 38 times, Albers drove in 21 runs.

Ty Stivers, designated hitter
The sophomore provided utility play for Barton this season, but started the bulk of the games as the Cougars designated hitter. Stivers hit .300 this season for Barton, scoring 32 times and collecting 30 RBI. His 9 doubles were 3rd on the team as were his 18 walks. Stivers played catcher and 1st base enough during the season to have 137 fielding chances without an error. Most of those come from catcher, where he played 17 games and had 94 chances. Stivers also played 5 games at 1st in addition to his 29 at DH. He was a perfect 3-for-3 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored in a pinch-hitting role.

Erik Anderson, pitcher
Anderson was the only pitcher to be tabbed All Conference for the Cougars. The freshman closer posted a 2.17 ERA this season appearing in 27 games – nearly half of the contests. Anderson ended the year with 7 saves. He posted some impressive strike out numbers with 76 K's in just 49 2/3 innings of work. He walked just 19 batters and limited the opponents to a .191 batting average against him. Of the 34 hits he did surrender in nearly 200 batters faced only 6 were for extra bases.

Honorable Mention
Kenny Burkhead, 1st base
As a freshman this past season, Burkhead was one of the most dangerous bats in the Cougar lineup. The 1st baseman finished 2nd to Wilson in most of the offensive categories and tied him for the lead with 8 homers. In addition to his co-lead in homers, Burkhead was 2nd on the club with a .367 batting average, 41 RBI, 10 doubles, a .578 slugging percentage, and was 3rd with 45 runs scored. He started 49 games at 1st base with a .984 fielding percentage.

Tyler Metcalf, 3rd base
Metcalf started 49 games for Barton at 3rd base and played in all but 1 game this season. He also played some 1st and DH for the Cougars. Metcalf ended the year with a .282 batting average but was 3rd on the team with 39 RBI. Metcalf had 2 homers and 6 doubles. He also scored 37 times for Barton.

Austin Holt, left fielder
Holt got off to a tough start to his sophomore season after being the Freshman-of-the-Year in the Jayhawk last season. But the left fielder picked things up the last half of the season, raising his batting average from .190 midway through the season to .306 by season's end. In the final 27 games of the year, Holt hit .412 with 35 hits, 38 runs scored and 21 RBI. For the year, Holt scored a team-high 56 runs and also led Barton in walks (29) and stolen bases (20) and was 2nd in on base percentage (.435). Holt had 32 RBI for the year.

All Jayhawk West
Coach of the Year – Steve Johnson, Butler 
Most Valuable Player – Erik Hegstad, Seward 
Freshman of the Year – Christian Kowalchuk, Seward

1st Team
Catcher – Marshall MacDonald, Colby     
First Base – *Tanner Rindels, Seward 
Second Base – *Jason Chatwood, Colby
Short Stop – Anthony Dreiling, Barton 
Third Base – Toby Davis, Seward 
Designated Hitter – Chad Thurman, Butler 
Outfield – Erik Hegstad, Seward 
Outfield – David Wilson, Barton 
Outfield – Aaron Dunsmore, Colby
Pitcher – Christian Kowalchuk, Seward 
Pitcher – Jakob Cunningham, Garden 
Pitcher – Greg Johnson, Butler
* Unanimous Selection

2nd Team
Catcher – Tyler Rzepka, Barton 
First Base – Billy Mansfield, Garden 
First Base – Jonathan Yerby, Hutchinson
Second Base – Mark Albers, Barton    
Short Stop – Jay Pitschka, Butler
Third Base – Ryan Bohanan, Butler
Designated Hitter – Ty Stivers, Barton 
Outfield – Dyan Petrich, Butler    
Outfield – Stu Schlemeyer, Seward 
Outfield – Kai Kirby, Seward 
Pitcher – Erik Anderson, Barton 
Pitcher – Logan Hoch, Hutchinson
Pitcher – Dan April, Colby

Honorable Mention
Catcher – Matt LaGree, Hutchinson
Catcher – Tyler Goodro, Butler
First Base – Kenny Burkhead, Barton 
Second Base – Jake Daniels, Butler
Short Stop – Brycen Bell, Garden City 
Third Base – Alex Denning, Pratt
Third Base – Tyler Metcalf, Barton 
Designated Hitter – Nick Shoptaw, Pratt
Outfield – Esterlin Perozo, Garden City
Outfield – Austin Holt, Barton 
Outfield – Josh Yost, Cloud 
Outfield – Colby O'Donnell, Pratt
Pitcher – Mike Schmitt, Colby
Pitcher – Bryant Cotton, Butler
Pitcher – Derick Keith, Dodge

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Season complete