Barton Baseball salvages conference opening split with 11-7 victory over Seward

The Barton Community College baseball team split their doubleheader Friday in Liberal, Kansas, dropping the first game 2-1 and winning the night cap 11-7 over Seward County Community College.  The teams were scheduled to complete the four-game series on Saturday, but due to weather, have tentatively planned to resume the series on Tuesday.  With the conference opening split for both teams, Barton runs their record to 7-5-1 while Seward County moves to 10-8.

Game 1
Locked in a pitcher's duel, losing pitcher Brandon Mercer (2-1) kept the Saints batters off-balance all afternoon, giving up the Saints' lone two hits and two walks in the costly home half of the fourth inning.

A leadoff single by Brandon Uriquizo set the table for the Saints but Mercer countered with his second strikeout of the game.  Following a Brent Williams walk, Kevin Connolly broke through for the Saints with an RBI single to center giving the Saints the 1-0 lead.  Connor Smith then added to the lead with a sac fly to deep center to score Williams.

The Cougars made it interesting in the top of the ninth with a two out rally.  Jace Bowman singled to left field to begin the rally then one batter later, Grant Watkins doubled to left driving home Bowman and cutting the deficit in half.   Caleb Cherryholmes, who came in to pinch run for Watkins, advanced to third on a Saints fielding error from Evan McDonald giving Barton the tying run just 90' away.  J.B. Olsen, who went all seven innings for the Saints, shut the door on the Cougar comeback getting Kyle Cromwell swinging for the third out to improve his record to 2-1 on the season.

Game 2
Evan McDonald's centerfield single scoring Braxon Byfield, who led off the second inning with a single, gave Barton the early lead.  Barton capitalized on a Saints error and passed ball, getting a Grant Watkins 2-RBI single to center.

Barton returned the favor in the home half of the third with an error and passed ball allowing Seward to draw to within 3-1.  It was as close as the Saints would come as Barton scored four in the fourth and four in the seventh to take a seemingly insurmountable 11-1 lead.

A Caleb Cherryholmes sac fly and Watkins single to left drove home two runs but the big hit in the fourth came from a 2-RBI single by Byfield.

In the Barton seventh, Trevor Hughes led off the inning with a solid single to right field that was misplayed by the Saints right fielder allowing Hughes to get to third base.  Following a McDonald line out, Kyle Cromwell walked giving Richardson the opportunity to drive home Hughes with a sac fly.  Cromwell put pressure on the Saints defense swiping second base then advance to third on a passed ball.  Following a walk by Cherryholmes, Scott Tyler's single drove in Cromwell.  For the second time in the game, Byfield came up with the big blow lacing a 2-RBI single to right to score Cherryholmes and Tyler.

Michael Turner pitched five solid innings to get his first win of the year, but a shaky sixth inning allowed the Saints to make things interesting.  On the brink of being run-ruled, the Saints Kevin Connolly led off the inning with a single and was followed by Jordan Leinweber reaching base on the first of three Barton infield errors.  Following Connor Smith's walk to load the bases, the Cougars turned to the bullpen and brought in Alexander Evans to snuff out the Saints rally. 

Brandon Rix eliminated the run-rule plans for the cougars singling to right as the Saints held the runners to keep the bases loaded.  Evans came back getting Alex White to strikeout but the Cougar defense committed back-to-back errors allowing the Saints to score three runs.  Striking out his second batter of the inning, Alex then gave up back-to-back singles to Tanner Thompson and Connolly driving home two more runs.  A Leinweber groundout to second ended the inning but not before the Saints scored six runs to cut the Barton lead to 11-7.

After a quiet Barton eighth, the Cougars rolled up a double play to erase a Smith leadoff single but didn't go quietly getting consecutive hits from White and Brandon Uriquizo and a walk from Jake Fuller to load the bases.  A Brent Williams fielder's choice to shortstop ended the eighth as Evans escaped any damage on the scoreboard.

In almost a mirror image of the eighth inning, a walk was the only noise Barton could create at their at-bat.  Tanner Shoemaker took the hill for the ninth and was immediately greeted with a Thompson double to left field.  But Shoemaker shut the door on the Saints threat inducing a fly out and foul out, and then struck out Smith to end the game.

Seward County outhit the Cougars twelve to eleven but Barton stranded eleven runners compared to the Saints' nine. 

Byfield drove in four RBIs in the designated hitter role going 3-for-5, a walk, and scoring twice.   Following Byfield in the lineup, Watkins went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Turner picked up his first win allowing four runs over his six innings on five hits while striking out two and walking one.  Keenan Hall remained winless on the season only lasting three innings giving up three runs on three hits and two walks but did strike out four batters.