Cougars sweep Garden; win 7th of last 8 in West

Cougars sweep Garden; win 7th of last 8 in West
The Barton County Community College baseball team continues to collect wins, posting two more in a sweep of Jayhawk West foe Garden City Wednesday at Cougar Fields. Barton won the opener in extra innings by a 5-4 score, then shutout the Broncbusters in the second game, 3-0. The wins give Barton 5 wins in a row in the West and 7 wins in their 8 outings after starting 1-3 in West action.

The sweep gives Barton County a 17-11 overall mark and 8-4 record in West play. The Cougars are solidly in 3rd place in the standings, just 1 of 3 teams over .500 in West play. Garden City is now 14-18 overall and 5-11 in the West.

Highlights
The two teams traded the lead in the opener as Barton's Andrew Burdine and Garden's Mike Fitch battled on the mound. Barton took a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Michael Roberts drove in Josh Schaub with a fly out. Garden scored single runs in the 2nd and 3rd to take a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the 3rd, the Cougars tied the game when T.J. Liles scored on a Garden City error. After falling behind once again, the Cougars tied the score at 3-all in the 5th when Jeff Christy scored on a passed ball. That is where the game stayed until the 7th inning.

In the top of the 7th, Burdine was hit on the leg with a line drive back up the middle and had to leave the contest. That runner later came it to score on an error, giving Garden another 1-run lead. But like the times before, Barton battled back, and wasted little time doing it. Christy led off the bottom half of the 7th with a solo homer on the first pitch to even the score again.

After Brendon Bump put down the Broncbusters in the top of the 8th, Barton won the game in the bottom of the inning. With two outs and nobody on Roberts started things with a single. He moved to 2nd on a walk to Christy, putting the winning run in scoring position. Roberts scored that winning run on a single by Mark Newton to give Barton the 5-4 win.

Bump picked up the win in relief. Barton left 15 runners on base during the contest.

In the second game, A.J. Knight continued his stellar pitching, tossing the complete game, 3-hit shutout. Knight also struck out a season-high 13 batters in his 7 innings of work and allowed just 3 walks. Knight is now 3-1 on the season.

The Cougars scored all 3 of their runs in a big 2nd inning, batting around in the process. Barton took a 1-0 lead when Blake Esfeld, courtesy running for Barton's catcher Christy, scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning Anthony Flores drove in Liles and Roberts for the 3-0 lead, which would stand to the end.

Stats
Stats can be found on the Barton County website at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Saturday, April 10 -- Barton at Brown Mackie, 4 pm
Sunday, April 13 -- Barton at Cloud County, 1 pm