Barton picks up impressive wins in Arizona to start season

Barton picks up impressive wins in Arizona to start season
The Barton County Community College baseball team got its season off to a good start in Arizona, going 5-5 on the trip, knocking off some of the top teams in junior college. The Cougars split with No. 5 ranked Chandler-Gilbert (Ariz) and beat the defending NJCAA National Runner-up Yavapai (Ariz) it the teams only meeting.

Highlights
The Cougars opened the trip the No. 5 ranked team in Baseball America's community college rankings in Chandler-Gilbert. Barton split games with the Coyotes, winning the opener 3-0 then losing the nightcap by that same 3-0 score. Ryan Anthony threw 6 shutout innings in the win, striking out 4 and walking just 1 on 3 hits. Erik Anderson threw the final inning to pick up the save. Barton took a 2-0 lead in the 4th inning when Mark Albers singled in David Wilson and Kenny Burkhead scored on an error. The Cougars added an insurance run in the 7th when Bryce Scott was hit by a pitch to start the inning, moved to 2nd on an Austin Holt sacrifice and scored on a Tyler Metcalf single. In the 2nd game, the Cougars could muster only 2 hits off 3 Coyote pitchers but were down just 1-0 heading into the 6th thanks to a strong pitching effort from Ryan Sheldon. Sheldon, however, ran into trouble in the 6th as Chandler-Gilbert scored 2 more runs for a 3-0 win.

The Cougars lost a pair of 1-run games the following day to at Mesa (Ariz), 5-4 and 3-2. The opener went extra innings thanks to a pair of rallies in the 7th. First, Barton trailed 3-2 heading into the top of the 7th before scoring twice to take the lead. Ty Stivers tied the game with a pinch-hit single to score Mitch Cooper. Anthony Dreiling's double gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead. But the Thunderbirds evened the score in the bottom of the inning and won in 9 innings. Burkhead homered and had 2 RBI on 3 hits for Barton. Barton led briefly 1-0 in the nightcap on an Albers single but fell behind 2-1 in the 2nd and trailed 3-1 after 4. The Cougars closed it to 3-2 in the 6th when Albers scored an unearned run but left the tying run on 3rd with 1 out.

Barton responded to the sweep with a 2-0 mark on day 3 against two different teams. The Cougars beat Glendale (Ariz) 2-1 in a pitching duel to start the day. The teams went into the 7th scoreless as Barton's Michael Bell and 3 different Gaucho pitchers combined to give up 5 hits through the opening 6 innings. But the Cougars doubled their hit total in the 7th with 3 hits and 2 runs – all with 2 outs. A 2-out walk to Holt started the rally. Holt stole 2nd and scored on a Dreiling single. Metcalf followed with a double just like that Barton had a 2-0 lead. Glendale finally scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 7th off Bell, but he held on for a 2-1 win. Bell allowed just 3 hits and no earned runs in the complete-game win. As good as Bell was to star the day, Jeff Edlefsen was in the 2nd game, a 2-0 shutout of defending NJCAA National Runner-up Yavapai (Ariz.). Edlefsen threw 6 2/3 shutout innings before giving way to Anderson with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 7th. Anderson got a strike out to get Edlefsen out of the jam and pick up his 2nd save. Edlefsen threw 5 innings of no-hit baseball before giving up singles in the 6th and 7th for a 2-hit outing. Barton scored twice in the 5th inning for the game's only runs. Cooper hit a 1-out fly to right that scored Albers for a 1-0 lead and Tyler Repka doubled in Burkhead with 2 outs for the 2-0 lead.

The Cougars split twinbills the final 2 days, losing 2-1 and winning 5-4 at South Mountain on the 4th day and finishing with a 5-4 win and 2-0 loss at Gateway on the final day. Austin Anderson threw 6 innings giving up just 2 runs in the loss in the opener but the Cougars couldn't muster much offense. The only score for Barton came in the 6th when Clayton Karst single in Stivers, who had doubled earlier in the inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Wilson drove in 3 in the nightcap for the Cougars, who rallied to win the game in the 7th. Barton trailed 4-3 going into the final inning but took a 5-4 lead when Wilson drove in a pair with a 1-out single that scored Holt and Dreiling. Barton won by that same 5-4 score at Gateway to begin the 5th and final day, scoring 3 time in the top of the 5th for a 5-3 lead, then holding on for the win. Metcalf drove in 3 in the win, including 2 on a single that 3-run 5th. In the final game of the trip, Barton was shutout as Sheldon was another tough-luck loser, giving up just 2 runs in the loss.

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

Next
Feb 22-23 – v Western Nebraska, 1 pm (doubleheaders at Lawson-Biggs Field)