Barton drops pair in Region VI tournament; ends with 28-22 record

Barton drops pair in Region VI tournament; ends with 28-22 record
The Barton County Community College baseball team had its season end with a pair of losses at the Region VI Championships in Wichita over the weekend. Barton lost 7-4 to Johnson Saturday then dropped an 8-4 decision to KCK Sunday in the loser's bracket, ending the Cougars season with a 28-22 mark. Barton finished the season 3rd in the Jayhawk West and had a stellar home mark of 23-3. But the Cougars struggled away from Lawson-Biggs Field, finishing 5-19 in non-home games, including the two neutral site losses in Wichita this weekend.

Highlights
The tournament got off to a rough start for Barton, falling behind 4-0 in the bottom of the 1st inning to Johnson Saturday during a 10 am start. The Cougars cut that lead in half in the 2nd inning as David Allbritton hit a 2-run homer that scored Michael Sickinger. Barton got even closer in the 4th with two more runs to cut the margin to a single run at 5-4. Andrew Melanson drove in Kenny Burkhead with a sacrifice fly when Sickinger scored on a Bryce Scott bunt.

But that would be all the scoring for the Cougars, who left runners on base 8 runners on base the next 4 innings. Allbritton was 3-for-4 with the 2-run homer while Sickinger, Burkhead and Blaine Clark each had 2 hits.

Sunday's game – also a 10 am start – was a similar contest as Barton fell behind 3-0 in the bottom of 1st and spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. After reaching a 4-0 deficit, Barton cut it to 4-2 in the 4th when Marc Clymer singled in Clark and Sickinger. The Cougars whittled it to 4-3 with a Keith Urban run in the top of the 5th. Barton trailed 5-4 after another run in the 7th – a Burkhead single that scored Marc Albers. Barton, however, would go in order the final 2 innings while KCK pushed the lead back to 8-4.

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

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Season complete with 28-22 record.