Cougars rally to advance in Region VI tournament; Karst, Sickinger hit 9th inning homers

marzolfm@bartonccc.edu

Cougars rally to advance in Region VI tournament; Karst, Sickinger hit 9th inning homers
The Barton County Community College baseball team received some 9th inning heroics Sunday afternoon from Michael Sickinger and Clayton Karst to win the best 2 of 3 series with Independence in 3 games. After splitting games Saturday, Barton trailed nearly the entire game Sunday before Karst tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the 9th. Two batters later, Sickinger ended the game with a 2-run shot to left for an 8-6 win. Barton had lost the opener 7-6 then came back to win 14-9 in the nightcap Sunday. Barton will now advance to the Region VI double-elimination tournament at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita. Barton will open the tournament at 10 am Saturday against Johnson County.

Highlights
Karst and Sickinger hit Barton's only 2 homers of the day - the Cougars had just 1 for the weekend entering the bottom of the 9th Sunday – to save the Cougars from an early exit in the tournament. Barton had a very brief 1-0 lead early in the game then spent the rest of the day playing catch-up to the Pirates. The Cougars trailed 6-3 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning when they began to whittle away at the Pirate lead.

Barton made it 6-4 in the bottom of the 7th when Kenny Burkhead singled in Marc Albers with 2 outs. Brett Schwartz started the 8th with a pinch hit single, then gave way to Andrew Lewton as a pinch runner. Lewton moved to 2nd when David Albritton walked and went to 3rd on a Bryce Scott sacrifice. Lewton scored when Albers grounded out to short, cutting the lead to 6-5.

Next was the memorable bottom of the 9th. With one out and rally caps donned in the Barton dugout, Karst sent that dugout into a frenzy when he deposited a shot over the left field wall to even the score and at least guarantee the Cougars would play another inning. Burkhead followed with a single to right then Sickinger – a left-handed batter – went the opposite way for a 2-run homer that cleared the left field fence and sent Barton to the next phase of the Region VI tournament in dramatic fashion.

Drew Smith picked up the win in relief, going the final 3 innings and allowing just 1 run on 4 hits with 5 strike outs. Matt Robertson gave Barton 6 solid innings with a depleted pitching staff from Saturday, giving up 5 runs – 4 earned. Karst, Sickinger, Burkhead and Blaine Clark each had 2 hits in the game with Karst and Sickinger driving in 2 runs. Albers and Burkhead each scored twice.

The Cougars dropped the opening game of the series after looking solid for the 1st 5 innings. Cougar starter Ryan Romo had retired 14 straight batters and was nursing a 3-0 lead when things fell apart for Barton in the 6th. Independence scored 5 runs in the 6th and added 2 more in the 7th to take a 7-3 lead. The Cougars rallied, cutting the margin to 7-6 heading into the bottom of the 9th and put 2 runners on but were unable to rally for the win – just the 3rd loss at home this season.

Things didn't start well in the 2nd game for the Cougars as starter Austin Anderson was chased after his shortest outing of the year – 1 2/3 innings – as Indy jumped to a 4-0 after the top of the 2nd. Barton got back in the game in a hurry with 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Bryce Scott made it 4-3 with a 2-run homer in the inning – the only other homer besides Karst and Sickinger's shots on Sunday. The game was tied at 5-all when the Cougars blew it open with a 6-run 5th. Kent Urban doubled in a 2 in the inning and Clark tripled in a pair as Barton took an 11-5 lead.

Cole Armitage pitched 4 innings in relief – tying his longest outing of the year – to pick up the win for Barton. Smith recorded his 8th save of the season in the win. Clark was 4-for-4 in the win, driving in 4 runs. Albritton had 3 hits and scored 4 times in the win.

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

Next 
May 10 – v Johnson 10 am (Region VI Tournament at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita)