Barton drops pair of close games at Seward
The Barton County Community College baseball team came up on the short end of two close baseball games Wednesday in Liberal, falling to No. 15 ranked Seward County, 8-7 in extra innings and 4-2.

The losses drop Barton County to 10-10 overall and 1-3 in Jayhawk West play. Seward is now 20-7 overall and 6-0 in West play.

Highlights
Barton took and early lead on the Saints, scoring once in three of the first four innings. Glenn Jackson hit a solo homer in the 1st, Travis Oosthoek did likewise in the 2nd, and Jackson drove in Patrick Wallis in the 4th as Barton built a 3-1 on the Saints. A.J. Knight limited the Saints to just 1 run through 5 innings, scattering 7 hits.

In the top of the 6th the pitching duel turned into an offensive explosion. It started when Josh Schaub hit a 3-run homer, scoring Mark Newton and Wallis to give Barton a 6-1 lead. Seward chipped back with 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th as sophomore catcher Eric Smith belted a 2-run homer. The Cougars made it 7-3 in the top of the 7th when Newton scored for the second time.

But the Saints had one big inning in them. The first four Seward runners reached base in the inning and all eventually scored to even the mark at 7-all, sending the game into extra frames. Each team went down 1-2-3 in the 8th, but the Saints' Ryan Nelson hit a leadoff homer in the 9th for the 8-7 win.

The second game again saw the Cougars in position to win following back to RBIs by T.J. Liles and Matt Roberts in the top of the 6th. Those runs - scored by Glenn Jackson and Jeff Christy -- gave Barton a 2-1 lead. But, much like the opener, Seward answered back. This time the Saints did their rallying in the 6th inning, scoring three times to take a 4-2 lead. That would be good enough for the sweep.

Stats
Stats can be found on the Barton County website at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Saturday, March 29 -- Barton v. Hutch, 1 pm, at Cougar Fields in Great Bend