Barton shut out for first time, Cougars drop rubber match to No. 20 Des Moines

The Barton Community College baseball team struggled at the plate Saturday at Lawson-Biggs Field in dropping a 5-0 contest with Division II No. 20 Des Moines Area Community College.  The Bears jumped on Barton with two first inning runs then tacked on three more in the fourth to take the rubber match of the three-game series.  Barton drops to 5-5 on the season while Des Moines leaves Great Bend reaching the .500 mark at 3-3.   The Cougars will have a mid-week game with the junior varsity squad at Fort Hays State University in Hays at 4:00 p.m. before turning attention to the conference opener next weekend at Colby Community College. 

Moving up to the top of the lineup after a 4-for-8 performance on Friday, Eric Weisbrod set the stage for DMACC's two run first inning drawing a walk to lead off the game.  Edwin Collazo followed with a single to right then Brad Mathiowetz delivered the big blow with a double to right field driving home two runs.

With Barton managing only one hit through the first three innings, Des Moines would tack on three runs in the fourth as Weisbrod's two-out double to right kept the inning alive.  Collazo followed with a double driving home Weisbrod then crossed the plate himself on Mrosla's single up the middle to chase Barton starter Cody Brewer from the game.

Mathiowetz greeted reliever Jayme Lovelace with a single to left getting his second of three hits on the day. Lovelace then struggled to find the strike zone throwing eight consecutive balls resulting in walks by Jacob Adams and an RBI walk by Zac Repinski. 

Kyle Duncan shut down the Cougars in order four of the nine innings as Trevor Hughes' first hit of the season, a double to deep right center in the third inning, accounted for the only Barton hit through the first six innings.  

Barton managed to get four of their five hits in the final three innings including two in the ninth but Duncan kept the Cougars scoreless for the first time this season.

Brewer dropped his second game of the season working 3.2 innings giving up seven hits and walking three while five runs came across with only two of those earned.

Going the full nine innings, Duncan picked up the win scattering the five hits while striking out eight and walking zero.