Barton Baseball knocks off No. 24 Cloud County, secures second straight series victory over ranked opponent #GoBarton

The Barton Community College baseball team claimed their third straight and second consecutive series victory over a ranked opponent on Saturday afternoon splitting its doubleheader with No. 24 Cloud County Community College at Lee Doyan Field in Concordia, KS.

In the opener, John Connors drove in both runs while a trio of arms combined to hold the T-Birds to just one run in the series clinching 2-1 victory. The T-Birds dominated the final game of the series with a 21-4 seven-inning victory.

Following the days split results, Barton remains atop the Jayhawk West standings at 10-2 and 17-5 overall while Cloud County remains in second place at 9-3 in league play and 20-8 overall.

The Cougars will step out of conference play for a brief two-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon hosting Rose State College in a 1:00 p.m. first pitch from Lawson-Biggs Field. The two teams opened the season splitting their doubleheader with Barton taking the opener 2-0 while the Raiders fought back taking the backend 5-3.

On the afternoon the Cougars were held to just six runs and outhit 24-14 over the 14-innings.

Connors and Jaxon Case led the run production each driving in two-runs. Connors coming off his pair of singles in the opener while Case distributed one of the two Barton round trippers in the nightcap with his third of the season.

Kyle Walker was the lone Cougar to collect a hit in both contests going 1-for-3 in game one and 1-1 in game two.

Game 1 Recap
Connors drove in his two runs in his first two at-bats. The freshman provided the second two-out hit in the opening frame with a single to left scoring Ayden Hadley's first of two doubles giving Barton a 1-0 lead.

The duo delivered again to open the fourth inning, providing the big insurance run and eventual game winning run in the top of the fourth with Hadley's second double kickstarting the inning with Connors single ensuing on the next pitch making it a 2-0 Cougar advantage.

The T-Birds scored their lone run off Barton starter Owen Pote in the bottom of the fourth as a two-out double crossed on the first of two succeeding singles with Pote escaping the jam inducing a flyout to conclude his day.

Turning things over to the Cougar bullpen, relievers Andrew McCarthy and Kiernan Meredith combined to toss the final three shutout innings surrendered three hits with one walk in securing the 2-1 series clinching victory.

Pote (3-2) earned the victory working four-innings allowing one run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Meredith collected his third save of the season handling the final two-frames fanning four T-Birds while allowing two hits.

Game 2 Recap
T-Bird pitchers Ben Soke and Cohen Nelson limited the Cougars to four runs and eight hits in the final game of the series. Soke yielded just one run on two hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts over the opening three innings while Nelson struck out seven, allowing three runs on six hits over the final four frames.

Cloud County scored in the opening four innings with the major damage coming in an 11-run second fueled behind seven hits, two Barton errors, two walks and a hit batsman.

Hunter Alvord delivered the first of two Barton home runs in the contest with a top of the third two-out solo-shot to left for his fifth of the season.

Barrett Donaldson's two-out double accounted for the Cougars second run scoring Kyle Graves leadoff fifth inning single.

Utilizing the bench with all nine starters being lifted, Case capped the scoring with a two-run blast to center field for his third of the season bringing home Carter Heim's collegiate first pinch hit double.

Eight Cougar pitchers gave up 16 hits, 21 runs, four walks and two hit batsmen.

Ethan Minaker (0-2) was the losing pitcher.