Barton earns sweep of Western Nebraska in home opener

Barton earns sweep of Western Nebraska in home opener
The Barton County Community College baseball opened its home schedule Tuesday afternoon with a sweep of Western Nebraska at Lawson-Biggs Field. The Cougars rallied for a win in the opener, 6-5, and then used a big 2nd inning to coast to an 11-3 win in the nightcap. The Cougars are now 2-6 for the season after going 0-6 earlier this month on a trip to Texas. Barton will be at home Sunday to take on Maple Woods (Mo) in a newly added doubleheader. First pitch is at 1 pm.

Highlights
After struggling through the 1st inning, Barton right-hander Ryan Romo settled in and shut down the Cougars from Western Nebraska. Romo allowed 4 runs on just 2 hits in the opening inning, walking one and hitting 2 batters in the inning as well. Romo allowed an unearned run on 1 hit in the 2nd. In the final 4 innings he pitched, Romo didn't allow any hits – the only base runner reached on an error – in retiring 12 of the last 13 batters. He struck out 4 over that stretch and ended the game 6 strike outs in his 6 innings of work. Drew Smith pitched the 7th for the save.

The Cougars came right back after Western Nebraska had the big top of the 1st with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Clayton Karst doubled in Bryce Scott to make it 4-1 then Michael Sickinger followed with a double that scored Kenny Burkhead and Karst to cut the lead to 4-3. The Cougars tied the game at 5-all in the bottom of the as Karst and Sickinger drove in runs again. Karst singled home David Allbritton and Sickinger scored Burkhead again on a single. The Cougars finally took the lead in the bottom of the 6th as Kent Urban doubled to start the inning, moved to 3rd on a single by Blaine Clark then scored on a bunt single by Allbritton.

In the 2nd game, again fell behind early, 2-0 after the 1st inning, but put up 8 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to take control of the game. The big inning started when Karst reached on an error and moved to 2nd on a single by Sickinger. Clark's bunt single loaded the bases and Brett Schwartz double emptied them for a 3-2 lead. Schwartz was injured running on the play and Andrew Melanson came in to run for him and scored on an Urban single to right to make it 4-2. Burkhead doubled in Scott and Urban for a 6-2 lead and Sickinger continued his big day at the plate by driving in Matt Albers and Burkhead with a double later in the inning. Sickinger finished the day 5-for-5 with 5 RBI at the plate for the Cougars.

Austin Anderson pitched the 1st 4 innings to pick up the win, allowing 6 hits and the 2 1st inning runs. Matt Robertson and Cole Armitage combined to allow 4 hits and 1 run in the final 3 innings.

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

Next 
Sun Feb 24 – v Maple Woods (Mo), 1 pm (2-7 innings game at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend)