Barton wraps up non conference stretch with 4-2 mark

Barton wraps up non conference stretch with 4-2 mark
The Barton Community College baseball team filled up a stretch of 13 days between conference series with 6 non conference games scattered over 5 dates all at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend. The Cougars finished that stretch with a 4-2 mark, earning wins over Brown Mackie, the Bethany and Kansas Wesleyan JV's as well as going 1-2 in a weekend series with Southeast Community College from Nebraska. The Cougars are now 26-18 on the season and will step back into West play this weekend at Dodge City for 4 games starting Saturday.

Highlights
The Cougars rolled to easy wins in the opening two contests – single games scheduled for 9 innings. The Cougars beat Bethany 25-1 last Monday followed by a 14-3 win over Brown Mackie two days later. Both contest ended early due to the run-rule.

In the win over Bethany, the Cougars scored 10 times in opening inning and cruised to the win.  Barton had another big inning in the 4th when the Cougars plated 7 runs. Mitch Slauter and Augie Morton hit homers for the Cougars – for Morton it was the 1st as a Cougar for the Larned freshman. It was Slauter's team-leading 7th blast. Slauter was a perfect 6-for-6 in the win with 4 RBI and 6 runs scored. Dylan Monroe drove in 5 for the Cougars as 14 different players batted and four pitched for Barton.

Barton again jumped to a big lead and played a lot of players in the win over Brown Mackie as well. The Cougars scored 7 in the 1st and 5 in the 2nd to grab a 12-1 lead. Brandon Hoefler and Nathan Miller each homered for Barton. It was the 1st in the career of Hoefler as well. Miller drove in 4 for Barton.

Things started well for Barton In the series with Southeast as Barton 1st blew a big lead, rallied then held off the Storm to win the opener in thrilling fashion. Barton took a 3-0 lead in the opening inning as Ryan Busboom singled in a pair and later scored. The game stayed at 3-0 until Barton added 4 more in the 4th – all with 2 outs – for a 7-0 lead. To that point Ben French was cruising along on the mound allowing just 2 runners in 4 innings. But French hit trouble in the 5th and the Southeast bats never stopped. The Storm scored 5 in the 5th and 3 more in the 6th to take an 8-7 lead in the 7-inning affair. The Cougars bounced back with 3 in the bottom of the 6th to recapture the lead. Barton took advantage of an error, hit by pitch and a double steal to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Hoefler came through with a single to score both Morton and Jordan Slade for a 9-8 lead. Michael Tennessen later provided a 2-out single to score Hoefler from 2nd to make it 10-8. Barton had to hold off Southeast in the 7th as the Storm added a run and left 2 runners stranded.

The Cougars Tyler Davis and Southeast's Chris Wobig – along with bullpen help – locked horns in a pitching battle in game two Saturday. Barton didn't score until the 6th inning when the Cougars plated a pair to tie the game at 2-all. Slauter was hit by a pitch to start the inning then Levi Schlick single to put the 1st two Cougars on base. A wild pitch moved the runners up a base and one out later Tennessen came through with another big hit, singling in Slauter and Corey Sager, who was runner for Schlick. That eventually sent the game to extra innings where Southeast scored in the 8th for a 3-2 win.

Things were not too pretty Sunday at the ball park for the Cougars. Barton committed a pair of 2nd inning errors to allow 3 Storm runs as the Cougars fell behind 4-1. That was an indicator of what was to come. Barton committed 9 errors in the contest resulting in 9 unearned runs for the Storm. On top of that, Southeast pounded out 13 hits on its way to a 15-3 win.

Barton wrapped up the non conference stretch – and an 11-game home stand – with Kansas Wesleyan Tuesday. The Cougars jumped out to an 8-0 lead with 6 in the 2nd and cruised to an 18-7 win. Again 13 players came to bat and the Cougars used 3 pitchers in the win. Monroe had a big game making the most of a chance for some at bats, going 4-for-6 with 6 RBI and his 1st home run as a Cougar.

The West season is coming to an end with just two weekend dates left. Barton is at Dodge City this weekend then hosts Garden City May 1-2 to end the regular season. The Cougars would need to finish 1st or 2nd in the West to host a newly formatted opening round 4-team Region VI series. The Cougars are all but out of the picture for that and are now playing to see where they will go. Barton, 12-12, is currently sitting 6th in the West with Dodge City, 13-15, in 7th. Three wins by the Cougars would lock Dodge in 7th place and Barton would still be in contention to finish 4th. But a bad weekend by Barton and 7th is still very possible.

Comments from Coach Mike Warren
I thought we did what we had to do against Bethany, Brown Mackie and Kansas Wesleyan. We got some guys at bats that hadn't had many. By the weekend series with Southeast I thought we started to show signs of fatigue, both physically and mentally. Due to the rescheduling of conference games in the last month, we went 28 days without a day off and I thought it showed on Sunday. We have been able to take 2 days off this week and hopefully it will get us where we need to be the final 2 weeks of the season. This is an important stretch for us as we could finish as low as 7th in the conference or as high as 4th when it's all over.

Notes
Sunflower Bank is donating $100 to the Family Crisis Center every time Barton gets 10 or more hits in a home game. It was a good stretch for the Crisis Center and a costly one for Sunflower Bank as the Cougars posted 10 or more hits in 4 of the 6 games. So far the Cougars have raised $1000 for the Family Crisis Center.

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

Next
April 24-25 – at Dodge 1 pm (Jayhawk West 4-game series at Dodge City)