Romo throws no-hitter but Barton road woes continue

Romo throws no-hitter but Barton road woes continue 
The Barton County Community College baseball team has been two different teams this season when at home and when on the road. At home this season, Barton is a sterling 15-2 while the Cougars are just 5-17 on the road after dropping 3 of 4 in a weekend series at Cloud County. Barton split games Sunday in Concordia and lost twice Monday in a series the weather pushed back one day. The bright spot of the weekend was the no-hitter tossed in the opener by Cougar sophomore Ryan Romo in Barton's 5-inning win. Barton won that opener 12-0 then lost 4-2 in the 2nd game Sunday. The Cougars lost 11-10 and 7-1 Monday. The losses kept the Cougars from locking up a home playoff spot, falling to 15-13 in the conference and 20-19 overall. Cloud is now 8-16 in the Jayhawk West and 15-28 overall. Barton will look to wrap up a home playoff spot as well as clinch the No. 3 seed from the West in the upcoming Region VI playoffs this weekend when Butler comes to Lawson-Biggs Field for a pair of 1 pm doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.

Highlights
Romo gave the Cougars the lead in the series with the no-hitter in the opener. He faced just 3 over the minimum, hitting 2 batters while another reached on an error. All 3 were stranded, 2 at first base. Offensively, Barton jumped to a 5-0 lead in the 1st keyed by a bases loaded triple from Kenny Burkhead. Barton made it 10-0 in the 3rd with its 2nd 5-run frame as Bryce Scott and Kent Urban each drove in 2. Marc Albers had 3 hits in the win.

Barton offense was again productive in the 2nd inning of game 2 as the Cougars plated 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead on the Thunderbirds.  Burkhead doubled in Clayton Karst and later scored on a Brett Schwartz single. Those, however, would be 2 of just 3 hits the Cougars would collect during the contest as Brent Adkisson shut down the Barton bats. A Karst single in the 4th would be just 1 of 2 base runners the Cougars would have over the final 4 innings. Matt Robertson went the distance, allowing just 5 hits and 3 earned runs in taking the loss.

Both teams had their chances to win the opener Monday but neither team, it seemed, wanted the win. Barton jumped to a 4-0 lead after the top of the 2nd inning, but two errors by the Cougars in the bottom of the 2nd allowed 5 unearned runs to cross the plate off starter Austin Anderson. Barton responded with a Burkhead homer to start the 3rd and added another run later in the inning to take a 6-5 lead that grew to 9-5 with 3 unearned runs of its own in the 5th – 2 on a Blaine Clark double.

Barton was still in good shape heading into the bottom of the 6th, leading 9-6 with a fully rested bullpen if needed, having not pitched the opening day of the series. However, the Cougars went through 3 pitchers to finally get out of the inning but not before surrendering the lead to the T-Birds, 10-9. But Cloud still didn't want the win in the top of the 7th as Barton tied the game on an error. The Cougars couldn't hold that lead, however, as Cloud scored another unearned run off Barton's closer Drew Smith in the bottom half of the 7th for the 11-10 win. More than half – 6 runs – were unearned for the T-Birds while Barton scored 4 unearned runs – all the Cougar runs after the 3rd inning. Clark and Scott each had 3 hits in the game and David Allbritton scored 4 times.

In the finale, a 5-run 4th inning by Cloud was the final nail in what turned out to be a 1-hit offensive output by the Cougars. Cloud scored twice in the 2nd for a 2-0 lead but Barton cut that lead to 2-1 in the top of the 4th on a Karst home run. Thoughts of a comeback and splitting the series ended in the bottom of the 4th as Cloud scored 5 times for a 7-1 lead. The Cougars would go hitless after that.

Barton can wrap up a home playoff date by winning 3 of 4 against Butler this weekend at Lawson-Biggs Field. Barton can all but secure 3rd place in the West with that same results as well. First pitch for both doubleheaders is slated for 1 pm.

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

Next 
April 19-20 – v Butler, 1 pm (Jayhawk West 4-game series Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend)

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