The Barton Community College baseball team landed three players on the KJCCC All-Conference Western Division Team announced recently. Sophomore Scott Tyler and freshman Grant Watkins lead the selections earning second team honors while freshman hurler Alexander Evans landed on the honorable mention selection list.
Coming to Barton two years ago from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Tyler was a versatile player for the Cougars playing primarily as a right fielder but also spending some spot duty at first base. In the outfield Tyler had a solid .953 fielding position and at the plate the lefty provided a lot of pop in the three hole of the lineup. In the starting lineup all fifty-seven games his sophomore season, Tyler started 92 of the 96 games he played as a Cougar. Tyler reached the .300 level at the plate just seven games into this season rising to a collegiate career high .374 late in the season to finish third on the team at .363. Amongst the top of every offensive category, Tyler led the Cougars in slugging percentage (.564), hits (77), doubles (24), home runs (7), total bases (126), and was a perfect 8-8 in stolen bases.
Joining Tyler on the second team and a fellow lefty, Watkins also provided punch in the lineup starting all forty-eight games the freshman from Wichita, Kansas, played in. After a 0-5 performance to start the season, Watkins raised his average to nearly .600 in the next fourteen plate appearances batting over .400 most of the year before slipping to .395 to end the season. In addition Watkins lead the team in batting average, he also led in on base percentage (.508) while also ranking in the top three of most offensive categories. Watkins also put in 3.2 innings of mound work appearing in four games early in the season scattering three hits while striking out five with two walks.
The closer out of the bullpen, Evans began the season pitching eleven consecutive shutout innings of relief finishing the season with 46.0 innings on the mound going 3-2 with seven saves and a 2.54 ERA to earn honorable mention honors. The freshman from Mulvane, Kansas, value drastically increased as the season went on and so did his innings pitched, going a then career high four innings to shut down the Jayhawk West Champions Hutchinson Community College to earn his first victory of the season on April 19th. With the region playoff seeding on the line, Evans appeared in seven innings of the four game regular season ending series to help Barton to a four-game sweep of Pratt Community College to move up in the region standings. In game three of the series, in what was one of Evans' most memorable performances of the year, Evans struck out six in three innings to help earn Head Coach Mike Warren his 1000th collegiate career victory. With the confidence of his skipper, Evans even earned the starting nod in the Cougars' must-win game in Coffeyville, striking out eight with one walk in 5.1 innings pitched.