Barton runs win streak to 4 with sweep of Pratt
The Barton County Community College baseball team made it 4 straight wins with a sweep of Pratt Tuesday afternoon at Lawson Field in a make-up game postponed earlier this year due to poor weather conditions. Barton struggled on the mound early in the opener, but settled in for the win by holding Pratt scoreless the final 4 innings of play to secure a 7-6 win. In the nightcap, Barton jumped out to an early lead and never let up as the Cougars coasted to a 15-3 win over the Beavers. The wins move Barton into sole possession of 2nd place at the moment in the Jayhawk West with a 15-7 record. The Cougars are 24-16 overall this year. Barton is just one game behind West leader Hutch, who is 16-6 and a game ahead of Colby, who is in 3rd at 13-7. The Cougars have 10 West games left this year. Pratt fell to 5-15 in the West and 6-21 overall.
Highlights
Things got off to a rocky start for Barton as Pratt scored 3 times in the top of the 1st off Barton's Ryan Sheldon. Barton was able to trim 1 run off that lead in the bottom of the 1st as Austin Holt started the inning with a triple and scored on a Brent Biggs sacrifice fly. The Cougars took a 5-3 lead with a 4-run 2nd inning thanks to a pair of Pratt errors. Back-to-back 1-out doubles by Tyler Metcalf and Eric Whinery cut the lead to 3-2. Barton took the lead on a Pratt error that scored Whinery and Ruble. Holt later scored on an error as well as the Cougars posted 3 unearned runs in the inning.
After a Pratt evened the score at 5-all in the 3rd, Barton recaptured the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Wade Gubbels scored on an Eric Whinery fly out and Tim Ruble doubled in Metcalf for a 7-5 lead. Pratt would add a run in the 4th to make it 7-6 but the Barton bullpen, led by Chad Lee, shut down the Beavers the rest of the way. Lee and Nathan Hedrick, both clocking 90 mph on the radar gun, didn't allow a hit in 3 innings of work, striking out 6. Lee topped out at 94 mph during the afternoon. Last week Baseball America, an organization that scouts and ranks players, tabbed Chad Lee as the top prospect in junior college baseball not under control of a major league team.
In the 2nd game, Barton fell behind 2-0 in the 1st inning but scored 4 times in the 1st, 7 in the 2nd and 4 more in the 3rd to built a 15-2 lead. After a tough 1st inning in which he hit he 1st batters of the game, left-handed starter Kevin Large settled in shut out Pratt in his next 3 innings of work to pick up his 2nd win of the season. Large allowed 5 hits in his 4 innings, striking out 6. At the plate, Ty Stivers went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Whinery, David Wilson, Michael Stettinger and Anthony Dreiling all drove in 2 runs. Wilson and Gubbels each scored 3 times as well.
Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu
Next
Wed., April 12 – at Butler County, 4 pm (West doubleheader at McDonald Field in El Dorado)