Cougars have chances for wins, but lose 4-game series at Seward

Cougars have chances for wins, but lose 4-game series at Seward
The Barton County Community College baseball team saw its Jayhawk West title hopes to a big hit this past weekend with a 4-game sweep by Seward County at Gould Field in Liberal. Barton had its chances to win but was unable to make the plays as Seward took control of the West race with the sweep. Barton fell to 4th place in the conference with the losses, now 11-9 in West action and 16-15 overall. Seward is 13-3 in the West and 22-12 overall. The Cougars will be at home this weekend when 3rd place Colby visits Lawson-Biggs Field for a 4-game series. Colby is 9-7 in the West – percentage points ahead of Barton.

Highlights
Barton lost a tough 3-2 outing in the opener as Cougar starter Ryan Romo and Saint starter Tomas Cruz both went the distance in a pitcher's duel. All the runs were scored in the opening 3 innings. Barton scored single runs in the 1st and 3rd – both Michael Sickinger RBI. But Seward scored 3 times in the 1st 2 innings. After that, it was all Romo and Cruz as the pair combined to give up just 5 hits over the final 4 innings. Sickinger, Marc Albers, and David Allbritton each had 2 hits for Barton.

Barton fell behind 4-0 in the 1st inning of the 2nd game and was hardly in the contest. Barton briefly made a game of it, cutting the lead to 4-2 in the 4th but Seward answered with 3 in the bottom of the 4th and 4 more in the 5th. Clayton Karst had 4 hits in the game while Allbritton homered for the Cougars. Seward hit 4 home runs in the game.

The biggest disappointment for Barton came in the opener Sunday as Barton was poised to win its 1st game of the series. This time it was Barton who jumped out to a big lead, scoring 5 times in the top of the 1st. Kenny Burkhead provided the big blow, hitting a bases loaded triple to score 3 Cougars. Barton pushed the lead to 7-2 in the 3rd as Burkhead drove in another run. A 2-out error by the Cougars – a precursor of things to come – allowed Seward to score 2 runs in the 4th inning. Barton made it 8-4 in the 6th as Blaine Clark doubled in Bryce Scott.

That is the lead Barton took into the bottom of the 7th inning, where closer Nate Smith would normally come on but he is 1 of 3 Cougar pitchers currently injured. Austin Anderson stayed in for Barton in an attempt to throw a complete game and give the staff some rest. Anderson was in position to do just that with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd. But a Barton error extended the inning, allowing Seward to make it an 8-6 game. Another 2-out error by the Cougars extended the inning even more as Seward eventually made up the deficit and won the game in the 9th – scoring its only earned run of the game for a 9-8 win.

Despite the heartbreaking loss in the opener Sunday, Barton was back in position to earn a win in the finale of the series. Barton trailed 3-0 into the 6th when the Cougars scored 4 times to take a 4-3 lead. Sickinger continued his hot batting, driving in 3 in the inning with a double. Burkhead singled in a run and Barton took the lead on a sac bunt by Allbritton to score Sickinger. But 2 more unearned runs by Seward in the bottom of the inning gave the Saints a 6-4 lead, which they held on to in the top of the 7th for the sweep.

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

Next 
April 5-6 – v Colby, 1 pm (Jayhawk West 4-game series at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend)