Cougars split with Butler; wrap up weekend at 3-1
The Barton County Community College baseball team split a pair of Jayhawk West games with Butler County Sunday afternoon at Lawson Field to end the weekend with a 3-1 mark in West play. The Cougars lost the opener to Butler 6-5 in 8 innings then made short work of the Grizzlies 16-6 in 5 innings in the nightcap. Saturday the Cougars won 8-4 and 12-2 contest at Dodge City. Barton is now 17-14 overall and 9-7 in the West. Butler, who entered the weekend tied with Seward for the top spot in the West is now 9-5 in the West and 16-15 overall after a 2-2 weekend.

Highlights
Barton wrapped up the weekend with an offensive outburst, putting up 10 runs in the 2nd inning. Barton trailed 3-0 at the time but started the inning with a Jordan Bruns walk and a Robbie Adams single. That set forth an explosion highlighted by a pair of Brent Biggs doubles that scored 3 runs and a triple by Chris Evans that scored a pair. Bruns, Logan Smith, and Andrew Small all had RBI as well as Barton took a 10-3 lead. Bruns drove in two more the following inning as Barton pushed the lead to 13-4. The Cougars finally put the game away in the bottom of the 5th with two more runs, ending on an RBI single by Evans. Biggs drove in 4 in the win with Bruns and Evans each driving in 3. Biggs and Bruns also scored 3 times. Brock Nehls picked up the win after a rough 1st inning, allowing 8 hits to improve to 2-3 for the year.

In the opener, Barton picked up timely hit after timely hit the 1st 5 innings, but could buy a timely hit in the final 3 innings. The Cougars scored an efficient 5 runs in the opening 5 innings, stranding just 1 base runner in the process. The Cougars tied the game 5 in the bottom of the 4th Eric Whinery hit his 2nd homer of the season, scoring Adams in the process. Earlier in the inning Michael Stettinger and Adams drove in runs. The Cougars left the bases loaded in the 6th and 7th and left 2 more in the 8th. Butler finally broke through in the 8th for the 6-5 lead and the eventual win. Wade Gubbels also homered in the game for Barton.

Saturday, Barton used a big 4th inning to take control of the opener, then rolled to the easy win in the 2nd game. Holding a 2-1 lead, Barton got RBI from Biggs, Small and Stettinger in the inning, scoring 4 times for a 6-1 lead. That was enough for Justin Randa, who threw 5 2/3 innings of work for the win and Nate Smith, who tossed a hitless 1 1/3 for the save. Randa improved to 2-1 and Smith picked up his 1st save. Stettinger, Small, and Logan Smith each had 2 hits in the win.

Four proved to be the lucky number for Barton in the 2nd game at Dodge at the Cougars scored 4 times in each the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings for the 12-2 win in 5 innings. Evans provided the big blow in the 2nd inning, driving in two with a double to give Barton a 4-0 lead. Tino McFerran had a 2-run double in the 3rd for Barton as the lead grew to 8-0 and Andrew Giambrone smacked a bases loaded triple in the 4th to make it 12-0. Barton's Ryan Simon allowed a pair of 5th inning runs to pick up the win move to a perfect 3-0 this season. Simon allowed just 4 hits and lowered his ERA to 3.42 – 2nd best on the Barton staff. Giambrone finished the game with 4 RBI while Adams and Mark Stoltz each scored 3 times.

Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu

Next
Wed., April 6 – v Colby, 4 pm (Jayhawk West doubleheader at Lawson Field)