Barton gets split at Pratt; closes in on securing 2nd seed in West

Barton gets split at Pratt; closes in on securing 2nd seed in West
The Barton County Community College baseball team moved one step closer to securing the No. 2 seed from the Jayhawk West in the upcoming Region VI playoffs with a split at Pratt. Barton kept its 2-game cushion on Colby in the loss column for the 2nd seed with just 4 games remaining for the Cougars. Two of those games are today in Colby. Barton won the opening contest in extra innings as a Tim Ruble inside the park home run in the 8th propelled Barton to a 5-4 win in the opener. The Cougars allowed Pratt to plate 5 unearned runs in the 5th inning in the nightcap as the Beavers won 7-5. Barton is now 19-9 in West action and 28-18 overall. Pratt is 9-19 and 10-24 with the split, locking up a playoff spot for the Beavers. Barton can secure the No. 2 seed with 1 win today in Colby, where the Cougars play a 1 pm doubleheader postponed from Saturday.

Highlights
The Cougars fell behind 2-0 in the opening when Pratt hit a 2-run homer off Barton starter Brett McBride. That lead stood until the 3rd inning when the Cougars scored 3 times to take the lead. Austin Holt started things with a leadoff homer. Robbie Adams and David Wilson both scored later in the inning, Adams on an error by Beavers and Wilson on a Tyler Metcalf double. Pratt immediately tied the game in the bottom of the 3rd and took a 4-3 lead in the 4th.

The Cougars tied the game in the 6th when Anthony Dreiling walked to start the inning and scored on a Holt single – his 2nd RBI of the game. That is where the game stood into extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Ruble hit a deep fly ball with 2 outs that the Pratt left fielder made an attempt at but banged into the wall and fell to the ground. Ruble kept running while Pratt's center fielder came over to grab the ball but by that time, Ruble was on his way to an inside the park home run for a 5-4 lead. Barton's Chad Lee completed 3 scoreless innings of work in the bottom of the 8th as the Cougars picked up the win.

Holt continued his hot day at the plate to start the 2nd game, doubling to lead off the contest and scoring on an Adams single. That lead held until Pratt scored a run in the bottom of the 3rd. The Cougars recaptured a 2-1 advantage in the top of the 5th when Holt walked, went to 2nd on a wild pitch, moved to 3rd on a sacrifice and scored on a ground out. The lead, however, would be short-lived.

Lucas Kramer, a Pratt High graduate, was cruising along nicely for the Cougars into the 5th inning. The inning started off with w grounder to 2nd for the 1st out, but an error by Barton on the Beavers 2nd batter would prove costly. Kramer stuck out the 3rd Pratt batter – what would have been the 3rd out – but after that the next 6 Beavers reached bases as Pratt scored 6 unearned runs in the inning for a 7-2 lead. Barton rallied with a 3-run 6th inning but that would it for the Cougars as Pratt won the contest 7-5.

Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu

Next
Thurs., April 20 – at Colby, 1 pm (West doubleheader at Colby)