Barton sweeps Butler; Cougars lock up home playoff series

Barton sweeps Butler; Cougars lock up home playoff series
The Barton County Community College baseball did just what it needed to do in order to clinch the 3rd seed in the Jayhawk West for the upcoming Region VI tournament – sweep Butler 4 games. The final win came on the bat of Andrew Melanson who hit 3 homers and drove in 8 during the game. The Cougars will not have to play the wait-and-see-what-happens game this weekend as they have their bye week in the West and all the other 8 teams finish play. The Cougars stand at 19-13 in the West, clear of everyone behind them for 3rd and unable to catch Seward or Hutchinson in front of them. Butler fell to 11-17 in the conference. Colby is currently 4th at 14-14 with Garden City and Dodge City 12-16. The Cougars will travel to McCook (Neb) this week then host Coffeyville next weekend to conclude the regular season. Barton is now 24-19 on the season.

Highlights
The Cougars are now an impressive 19-2 at home this season following the sweep of Butler over the weekend. Barton won 3-2 in 8 innings to start the series and finished Saturday with a 13-3 win over Butler. Sunday Barton started with another 1-run win, winning 5-4 before capturing another run rule with a 16-5 win over the Grizzlies.

Barton's Ryan Romo and Butler's Colby Killian matched up in a pitchers duel to start the series, neither of them allowing a run for 6 1/2 innings. Barton finally broke through with a single run in the bottom of the 6th when David Albritton doubled in Brett Schwartz with 2 outs in the inning. But the Cougars couldn't hold the lead as Butler evened the score in the top of the 7th and took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th as the game went to extra innings. But the Cougars answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th – all after 2 outs. In fact the 1st 2 batters in the inning were put out before Schwartz doubled and gave way to pinch runner Andrew Lewton at 2nd base. Albritton again played the role of hero with another doubled to left that scored Lewton. Kent Urban ended the game with the 3rd straight double, scoring Albritton and giving Barton a come-from-behind win. Cole Armitage came on in relief of Romo to record the final out of the 8th and get the win. Romo pitched 7 2/3 innings, scattering 8 hits in the no decision.

Barton put game 2 away with an 8-run 4th inning to turn a 5-3 contest into a 13-3 run-rule. Marc Albers drove in 2 with a triple in the 2nd as Barton took the lead. Kenny Burkhead provided the big blow in the 4th with a bases loaded triple to drive in 3. Michael Sickinger and Blaine Clark each drove in 2 runs as well in the win while Albers scored 3 times. Matt Robinson went 5 to pick up the win and improve to 5-4.

The two clubs locked in another battle to start Sunday, trading the lead 4 times with Barton scoring the eventual winning run in the 6th. Butler scored 1st but Barton plated a pair in the 2nd as Albritton and Urban continued their hot series with RBI in the inning. After falling behind 4-2, Barton tied the game with 2 in the 5th as Sickinger and Clayton Karst drove in runs. The Cougars took a 5-4 lead on an Albers single in the 6th to score Albritton. Armitage pitched the final 3 innings to pick up his 2nd win of the series and improve to 4-2.

The Cougars took a 3-0 lead in the final game of the series on Melanson's 1st homer of the game – a 2-run shot in the 2nd. Barton blew the game open in the 3rd with a 10-run frame. Melanson hit his 2nd homer of the game – a 3-run shot – and Burkhead added a 2-run homer as Barton took a 13-0 lead. Butler came back to make it 13-5 before Melanson ended the game with a 3-run homer in the 5th for a run-rule win at 16-5.

Barton will finish out the regular season schedule against non conference foes before turning its attention to the Region VI 1st round playoffs which will be held May 3-4 in Great Bend. Barton will host the 3-game series with 2 games on Saturday and the 3rd game if needed on Sunday. The winner of the series will move onto the 8-team double elimination tournament in Wichita, starting May 10. The likely opponent for Barton looks to be Independence but that won't be determined until play the next week in concluded.

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

Next 
April 23 – at McCook 4 pm (Non conference doubleheader at McCook, Neb.)