Walk-off ends Barton Baseball season in Plains District Tournament #GoBarton

A bang-bang play at the plate Saturday afternoon in the 10th-inning suddenly ended the Barton Community College baseball season as the Cougars fell 3-2 to Hutchinson Community College in the Consolation Final of the Plains District Tournament held at Wichita State University's Eck Stadium.

Compiling a 2-2 record over the four days in Wichita, Barton closes the season at 41-21 after winning 8 of their final 10 games with Hutchinson improving to 50-12 overall with their fourth straight elimination game victory and advancing to the title game against top-ranked and top-seeded Johnson County Community College.

Stranding four of its' nine baserunners over the opening two at-bats, the Cougars finally broke through with their lone runs in the third on Kyler Horsman's first of two doubles produced in the inning scoring Jaron Cotton's leadoff single and Ayden Hadley's run producing double a batter later gifting Barton a 2-0 lead.

Back-to-back two-out walks in the bottom of the third sparked a Blue Dragon two-out RBI single trimming the deficit in half 2-1.

With both starters locked in on the mound, Robby Bolin's one-out single in the fourth would be the lone baserunner for either team over the next two innings.

In the sixth, another opportunity went wayside for Barton with Hadley's leadoff single accounting for the Cougar's final hit being left at third following a one-out steal and Blue Dragon error stranding the insurance run 90-feet away.

Holding Hutchinson to just three base runners following the third inning, a two-out walk in the eighth sparked a second Blue Dragon two-out rally as an RBI double following drew things even at 2-2.

Unable to generate anything in the top of the ninth, Grant Nottlemann's gun down at second to wipe away Hutchinson's leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth drew momentum back to the Cougars side heading into the 10th.

In the 10th, Nottlemann's two-out drawn hit-by-pitch would be all the Cougars mustered with the final out happening on the basepaths trying to swipe second.

Drawing a leadoff walk, the Blue Dragons advanced the eventual game winning run at second following a one-out stolen base. Passing on the current batter issuing an intentional walk to create a possible force attempt, Cooper Wesslund saw just three pitches before produced the game winning hit with Barton's left field heave to the plate coming just late on the tag attempt.

Starting pitcher Nathan Bowman posted a career high day working his longest outing 7.2-innings. The sophomore lefty from Bucklin, KS allowed four hits, two earned runs with four walks and six strikeouts in the no-decision.

Preston Golden (4-1) fell on the wrong side tossing 1.2-innings yielding two hits, one run and two walks in relief.

Barton outhit Hutchinson 7-6 with Hadley's 3-4 day fueling a pair of multi-hit performances and one of two Cougar extra base hits. The sophomore generated the first of the two RBI doubles in the third with Horsman's double capping the two-run inning.

Setting the single season career hits record on Friday against Johnson County, Bolin turned in a 2-5 performance in his final game to end with a sophomore total of 104 hits and two-year total of 176.