Barton earns sweep of Western Nebraska in home opener
The Barton County Community College baseball opened its home schedule Tuesday afternoon with a sweep of Western Nebraska at Lawson-Biggs Field. The Cougars rallied for a win in the opener, 6-5, and then used a big 2nd inning to coast to an 11-3 win in the nightcap. The Cougars are now 2-6 for the season after going 0-6 earlier this month on a trip to Texas. Barton will be at home Sunday to take on Maple Woods (Mo) in a newly added doubleheader. First pitch is at 1 pm.
Highlights
After struggling through the 1st inning, Barton right-hander Ryan Romo settled in and shut down the Cougars from Western Nebraska. Romo allowed 4 runs on just 2 hits in the opening inning, walking one and hitting 2 batters in the inning as well. Romo allowed an unearned run on 1 hit in the 2nd. In the final 4 innings he pitched, Romo didn't allow any hits – the only base runner reached on an error – in retiring 12 of the last 13 batters. He struck out 4 over that stretch and ended the game 6 strike outs in his 6 innings of work. Drew Smith pitched the 7th for the save.
The Cougars came right back after Western Nebraska had the big top of the 1st with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Clayton Karst doubled in Bryce Scott to make it 4-1 then Michael Sickinger followed with a double that scored Kenny Burkhead and Karst to cut the lead to 4-3. The Cougars tied the game at 5-all in the bottom of the as Karst and Sickinger drove in runs again. Karst singled home David Allbritton and Sickinger scored Burkhead again on a single. The Cougars finally took the lead in the bottom of the 6th as Kent Urban doubled to start the inning, moved to 3rd on a single by Blaine Clark then scored on a bunt single by Allbritton.
In the 2nd game, again fell behind early, 2-0 after the 1st inning, but put up 8 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to take control of the game. The big inning started when Karst reached on an error and moved to 2nd on a single by Sickinger. Clark's bunt single loaded the bases and Brett Schwartz double emptied them for a 3-2 lead. Schwartz was injured running on the play and Andrew Melanson came in to run for him and scored on an Urban single to right to make it 4-2. Burkhead doubled in Scott and Urban for a 6-2 lead and Sickinger continued his big day at the plate by driving in Matt Albers and Burkhead with a double later in the inning. Sickinger finished the day 5-for-5 with 5 RBI at the plate for the Cougars.
Austin Anderson pitched the 1st 4 innings to pick up the win, allowing 6 hits and the 2 1st inning runs. Matt Robertson and Cole Armitage combined to allow 4 hits and 1 run in the final 3 innings.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Sun Feb 24 – v Maple Woods (Mo), 1 pm (2-7 innings game at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend)