Cougars take 3 of 4 at Cloud; host Butler this weekend

Cougars take 3 of 4 at Cloud; host Butler this weekend
The Barton Community College baseball team will take a 4-1 record over its last 5 games into a big Jayhawk West series this weekend. The Cougars won 3 of 4 games at Cloud County over the extended Easter Weekend then beat Brown Mackie Tuesday at Lawson-Biggs Field on the campus of Barton. Barton will host West leader Butler this weekend in a pivotal series at Lawson-Biggs. Doubleheader action Saturday and Sunday will start at 1 pm against the Grizzlies. Barton is currently 10-10 in the West and 20-14 overall. Butler is in a 3-way tie at the top with a 12-4 record in the West. The Grizzlies are 20-11 overall.

Highlights
Barton swept a pair of games Saturday at Concordia, beating Cloud 18-11 and 11-1. The Cougars made it 3 straight when the teams resumed on Monday after taking Easter Sunday off. Barton won the opener 10-8 then lost a 4-run lead in the 9th in the finale eventually missing a sweep of the series in a 14-13 loss in 13 innings of play. Barton came back the following day for a 12-2 win over Brown Mackie in non conference play.

Saturday's highlight was the pitching effort of Levi Schlick in the nightcap. The freshman lefty from Colby was dominate in the win, allowing just 2 hits and 1 earned run in his 7 innings of work. Schlick struck out 12 and walked just 2, facing a tidy 27 batters in the win. Corey Hatchel was the star at the plate, belting 2 homers in the win, driving in 3 runs. Also hitting home runs in the contest were Mitch Slauter and Michael Tennessen. Barton banged out 16 hits in the win.

Barton stared the day off with an offensive slugfest with the Thunderbirds. Cloud led 6-2 after 2 innings and 8-3 after 4 innings. But Barton scored 15 runs in the next 2 innings to take an 18-10 lead on the T-Birds then held on for the win. Barton hit 4 homers in the opener as well with Jordan Slade belting a pair in the same inning. Slade lead off the 5th with a homer and hit a 3-run shot his next at bat in the same inning, capping an 8-run 5th to give Barton the lead. Schlick also homered in the 4th – driving in 2. Ryan Busboom added a 2-run shot in the 1st inning for the Cougars. Barton collected 18 hits with Slade driving in 5 runs, Busboom 4 and Schlick 3. Hugo Hernandez scored 3 times for Barton in the win as every Cougars scored in the contest.

Barton started Monday off with a 10-8 win, building a 10-2 lead then holding on. Barton scored 6 times in the 2nd inning as the Cougars combined 6 singles, a walk and a late error in the inning for the runs and a 6-2 lead. It reached 10-2 with a 3-run 4th and Barton appeared to be in cruise control. But Cloud wasn't done. A single run in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th made it 10-5 heading into the bottom of the 7th and final inning. Cloud kept things interesting with a 3-spot in the inning but couldn't catch the Cougars. Ian Smith was 3-for-3 in the win scoring 3 times.

Barton again built a lead in the series finale, this time leading 13-9 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. Barton retired the 1st 2 batters in the inning before the flood gates opened as Cloud moved runners and scored in a myriad of ways. The Thunderbirds has just 1 hit in the inning – a 2-run double – but a Barton error, an argued call on the bases, two walks and a pair of hit batsmen allowed Cloud to tie the game at 13-all. The Cougars had a chance to take the lead in the 11th, loading the bases with 1 out but failed to score. The game ended in a way that summed up the contest – bizarre. After the 1st 2 batters were retired in the bottom of the 13th, Cloud's Caleb Wilson singled to left to keep the inning alive. Wilson then stole 2nd base and when the throw got away from the Cougars, Wilson took off and didn't stop until he scored the winning run. Hernandez and Busboom each 3 hits in the contest and Brandon Hoefler drove in 4 from the 9-spot in the order.

The Cougars played a single 9-inning contest at home Tuesday with a run-rule 12-2 win over Brown Mackie. Barton scored in all but the 4th and 5th innings, plating 3 runs in each of the final 2 innings to end the contest early. The game ended with 2 outs in the 7th when Schlick drove a ball to right that scored Michael Edlefsen from 3rd to give Barton the 10-run lead. Robbie Van Cour and Blake Morgan combined to limit the Lions to just 6 hits and 2 runs in the win. Charles Trottier went 3-for-3 at the plate to pace the Barton hitting attack.

Butler is 1 of 3 teams leading the West with a .750 winning percentage. Butler and Garden are both 12-4 while Seward is 15-5. In addition to Butler traveling to Barton this weekend, Garden will be in action at Colby and Seward is at Hutch as all 3 leaders hit the road for a big weekend in the West.

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

Next
April 10-11 – v Butler, 1 pm (West 4-game series at Lawson-Biggs Field at Great Bend)

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