Barton Baseball picks up conference series win against Butler
Since splitting the conference opening season series at Hutchinson, the Barton Community College baseball team has lost each conference series three games to one. This past weekend the Cougars picked up their first series win by capturing three of the four games against Butler Community College at Barton's Lawson-Biggs Field. On Friday the Cougars needed a bottom of the seventh game-tying home run by Federico Castagnini to go on to win game one 8-7 in eight innings. Butler was able to split Friday's doubleheader by scoring five runs in the last three innings to win 9-8. In Saturday's game one sophomore Ashton Sivigliano pitched a two-hitter as the Cougars run-ruled Butler 11-1. Barton wrapped up the series by scoring four runs in the third and three in the fifth to cruise to the 8-2 victory. With the three victories, Barton improves to 9-15 in conference and 23-16 on the season while Butler drops to 10-10 in conference play and 19-19 overall. The Cougars will have the week off until facing Metropolitan Community College-Longview in a four game series next week-end in Kansas City, KS. Barton will play its next ten games on the road before returning home April 28 against Garden City.
Highlights Trailing by one in the top of the seventh of Friday's game one, Butler's Tory Bell hit a two-run home run giving the Grizzlies a 7-6 lead. Castagnini, who was facing a full-count and after lining two shots off the wall in foul territory, sent the game to extra innings on his solo home run to left field. Devin Welch, who relieved Jason Harris in the top of the eighth, pitched out of his first and third jam by inducing a double play to end the Grizzly threat. After an Eric Carlson groundout to start Barton's eighth, Alex King singled and Michael Edlefsen walked to set up Castagnini delivering the game-winning RBI to left field giving the Cougars the 8-7 win.
Despite an 8-4 advantage through the fourth inning, the Cougar pitching staff couldn't hold the lead and gave up five runs in the last three innings to fall 9-8. The Grizzlies were able to tie the game in the sixth by pushing across two runs after being down to its final out. After back-to-back walks and a hit batsman, Butler's Brayon Colley delivered his third hit of the day driving the tying runs home on his left field single. In the top of the seventh the Cougars again gave Butler the breaks it needed in back-to-back walks to lead off the inning. Baylor Parker, who reached base on the first walk, sprinted home from third on a pass ball to give the Grizzlies the game winning run. The Barton offense posed no threat in the last three innings as the Cougars went down in order in the 9-8 Butler victory.
The Barton bats came to life on Saturday and wasted little time in scoring as the Cougars put up eight runs in the bottom of the first. It would be all the runs they would need as Ashton Sivigliano pitched a masterful complete game two-hitter and struck five as the Cougars tacked on another three runs in the sixth to end the game 11-1 in run rule fashion.
Barton would break open a one-all tie in the bottom of the third in part to three of Butler's seven errors in the game. After the Grizzlies scored one in the top of the fifth, the Cougars struck back for three runs behind RBI singles from Ryan Tracy and Dylan Turpin, as well as, a Logan Buehler sacrifice. The teams went scoreless the last three and half innings and Barton captured the series with the 8-2 win.