Cougars close out season with 4 West wins at Lawson-Biggs Field

Cougars close out season with 4 West wins at Lawson-Biggs Field
The Barton County Community College baseball team ended the season in impressive fashion this past weekend as the Cougars swept a pair of Jayhawk West opponents, scoring double figures in every game in the process at Lawson-Biggs Field. Barton won all 4 games in short-stint as the Cougars run-ruled Pratt twice in 5 innings, 15-0 and 15-4 before turning a similar trick on Cloud County Sunday, winning 16-2 and 13-3. Only the final game against went 6 innings. The Cougars close out their season winners of 5 of their finals 6 games and a 34-22 overall record. Barton finished with the 3rd best record in the West, posting a 20-12 mark – 3 games behind co-champs Butler County and Seward County. Sunday marked the final game for 14 Barton sophomores, who were recognized between games.

Highlights
The Cougars scored in all but 3 innings during the weekend. Barton scored 13 runs in one inning Sunday and had an 8-run and 6-run inning in the same game on Friday. The Cougars averaged 14.8 runs per game and 3.1 runs per inning. The Cougars have been good offensively all season, averaging 6.8 runs per contest, hitting .316 as a team for the year, but they turned it up a notch to end the year in front of its home fans in the 4-game sweep. Barton had 19 extra base hits on the weekend.

Barton took control in the 1st game Saturday in the 2nd inning, scoring 6 times for a 6-0 lead. Kenny Burkhead drove in 2 with a homer and Austin Holt 2 with a double. Burkhead hit his 2nd homer of the game in the 4th for a 7-0 lead. Barton ended any suspense when the Cougars scored 8 more times in the 4th for a 15-0 lead. David Wilson knocked in 2 runs with a double and Holt 3 with triple. Burkhead finished the game 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI and the 2 homers. The 2 homers temporarily gave Burkhead most on the team with 8, one ahead of Wilson's 7. Ryan Sheldon went the distance for Barton, allowing just 2 hits and 1 walk for his 5th win of the season.

Barton scored in every inning in the 2nd game against the Beavers, taking a 3-0 lead in the 1st and a 7-2 advantage after 3 innings of play with Wilson was leading the way for Barton. The team-leader in RBI, Wilson drove in 1 with a double in the 1st and 2 with a double in the 3rd. A 5-run 4th was capped by Wilson 3rd double of the game, this time driving in 3 more for a total of 6 during the game and 8 for the twinbill. Marc Albers ended the game in the bottom of the 5th with a 3-run homer and a 15-4 lead with 1 out in the inning. Jeff Edlefsen went the distance to improve to team-high 6-1 for the season.

The Cougars swept to the easy wins Sunday as well, putting up a 13-run inning in the opener – all with 2 outs. Barton held a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 3rd before the Cougars broke the game open. After the 1st 2 batters for the Cougars were retired on ground balls the Cougars next 16 batters all reached base as Barton batted around twice in the inning. The Cougars had 10 hits in the inning, to go with 3 hit batsmen, 2 walks and 1 Cloud error. Anthony Dreiling had a 3-run triple in the inning. Michael Cotter went the distance for Barton, for his 5th win of the year.

In the final game of the season, Barton trailed 2-0 after the top of the 1st and 3-2 after the top of the 3rd. But the Cougars scored 11 more times for the 13-3 win. Wilson was back work again, this time doubling in a run in the 3rd – coupled with a Burkhead 2-run single gave Barton a 6-3 lead. The Cougars would lead the rest of the way. Wilson made certain of that with a grand slam home run in the 4th as the Cougars pushed the lead to 10-3. It was Wilson's 8th home run of the season to tie him with Burkhead for the team lead.

Wilson then ended the game in the 6th when he drove a long single to the left center field wall that would have been extra bases if not for the winning run scoring from 3rd on the play for a 13-3 run-rule win. Wilson ended the game 4-for-4 with a double and a homer and 6 more RBI. Burkhead added 3 RBI as the duo combined to drive in 23 runs during the 4 games on 12 extra base hits. Austin Anderson picked up the win for Barton – his 1st of the season.

Quite a few Cougars put up some impressive numbers during the 4-game sweep, but none compare to Wilson's. The sophomore centerfielder went 12-for-15 at the plate, scoring 8 times and driving in an astonishing 15 runs – giving him 67 RBI this season in 56 games. Wilson had 7 doubles during the weekend to go with a home run. Burkhead added 7 hits, 6 runs and 8 RBI while Holt scored 8 times and drove in 6. Dreiling and Albers each had 5-hit weekend and scored 5 times. Albers added 5 RBI and Dreiling 4. Tyler Metcalf and Tyler Rzepka each scored 7 times on the weekend. Ty Stivers hit .400 and with a pair of extra base hits and 4 runs scored and Brandon Wells scored 4 times as well.

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Season complete with 34-22 overall record and 20-12 West record.