Cougars take 3 of 4 against Seward; win 2nd straight West series

Cougars take 3 of 4 against Seward; win 2nd straight West series
The Barton Community College baseball team has put itself back in the thick of the Jayhawk West race by taking 3 of 4 against Seward County on the heels of winning 3 of 4 in a series at Pratt. Barton won the final 3 games against the Saints Monday and Tuesday at Larks Park in Hays. The contest was slated to be played at Great Bend but 14 inches of snow moved the series north to Hays and pushed it back 2 days. The Cougars lost the opener of the series before winning the 2nd game Monday and sweeping Tuesday. Barton is now 11-9 in the West and 16-15 overall. Seward fell to 8-8 and 19-13. Barton is currently 4th in the West but just a game behind West leader Colby. Barton will travel to Colby this weekend for another big series on Saturday and Sunday.

Highlights
With a howling wind blowing out to left-center, the opener became a slugfest won by Seward 14-5. Seward's Todd Glime hit 3 homers in his final 3 at bats in the game to turn a 3-2 Seward lead into the 9-run win. Dustin Phelps led the hitting attack with 3 hits for the Cougars and Brett Schwartz drove in 2 runs on 2 hits. Kensley Dukes scored twice for the Cougars.

The 2nd game – with the wind picking up and temperature dropping under the lights – saw Barton's Spencer Blades throw a gem for the Cougars in a 3-1 win. Blades allowed just 3 hits and struck out 9 in his 6 innings of work to improve to 3-1 on the season. A key for Blades was keeping the ball out of the air with the big wind blowing out and he did just that. The only three balls that left the infield were the 3 hits. All 18 outs recorded by Blades stayed in the infield – strikeouts (9), ground outs (7), caught stealing (1) and runner's interference (1). Drew Smith did likewise in his closer stint during the 7th getting a double play in relief of Blades and ending the game with a strikeout. Barton took a 1-0 lead when Blaine Clark doubled in Phelps in the 3rd and pushed it to 3-0 in the 4th when Austin Messerli drove in David Allbritton with a single and Clark scored on the play as well when the ball got past the Seward outfielder.

Barton put forth its biggest rally of the year Tuesday in the opener with a 3-run 7th to catch Seward before winning 8-7 in the 8th. Barton fell behind 4-0 in the top of the 1st and trailed 6-3 after 2 innings. Barton did score 3 times in the bottom of the 1st to keep things close, capped by a 2-run double by Messerli. After the rough start for Cougars' starter Michael Cotter, the sophomore settled in and shut down the Saints the next 4 innings to keep Barton within striking distance. Cotter retired 9 of 10 batters – issuing only a walk – during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. Barton crept a run closer in the 5th when Allbritton lead off with a homer but Seward got that back in the top of the 6th and took a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the 7th.

The Cougar rally started with a 1-out walk to Allbritton forcing the Saints to go with their closer Travis Parker. But Parker, who normally has great control, had trouble hitting the strike zone. Parker hit Clark to start things, thing Messerli followed with a single that scored Allbritton to make it 7-5. Brett Schwartz followed with a pinch hit single to cut the lead to 7-6 when Clark crossed the plate. Woltemath was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with still just one out. Josh Hoefler drew a bases loaded walk to even the score at 7 but that is where it stayed after a force out at home and strikeout to end the frame. Landon Fall kept Seward off the board in the 8th giving up only a 2-out single, setting the table for the Cougar win in the bottom of the inning. Kent Urban double to center to start the inning and advanced to 3rd when Allbritton reached on an error. Clark was again hit by pitch from Parker to load the bases with no outs before Fall grounded into a fielder's choice with Urban out at home. But Schwartz came through with the game winner – a shot to left – to score Allbritton and end the game. Schwartz – who did not start against the left-handed starter for Seward – ended the game 2-for-2 with a pair of big RBI. Messerli drove in 3 and Phelps had 3 of Barton's 15 hits. Allbritton drove in 2 and scored 3 times. Fall picked up the win in relief to improve to 3-1.

Barton never trailed in the final game of the series as the Cougars scored in each of the 1st 4 innings on its way to a 7-3 win. Marc Clymer scored in the 1st on an Allbritton ground out and Phelps drove in another run with a 2-out single in the 2nd to score Dukes. Messerli continued to drive in runs with 2 more RBI in the 3rd with a 2-out double scoring Schwartz and Clark for a 4-1 Barton lead. The Cougars made it 6-1 in the 4th when Schwartz reached base for the 5th straight time – 4 hits and a walk – driving in Woltemath and Clymer with a bases loaded 2-out single to center. Seward trimmed the lead to 6-3 before Barton tacked on another run in the 6th when Clymer scored for the 3rd time in the game on a wild pitch. Andrew Hawkins got the win for Barton, pitching into the 5th inning to improve to 4-2. Fall got Hawkins out of the 5th and Smith came in to pitch the 6th and 7th – allowing just 1 hit that was wiped out with a double play – for his 7th save of the season.

Barton is behind a trio teams that are 4-games over .500. Colby is 10-6 – leading by percentage points over Butler and Hutch who are 12-8 – but the 3 are tied for the lead in the West. Garden and Barton and just 1 game behind the trio with Garden (9-7) percentage points ahead of Barton (11-9).

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

Next
April 4-5 – at Colby 1 pm (Jayhawk West series at Colby)