Barton splits West series at Colby; pick up midweek win over Bethany JV

Barton splits West series at Colby; pick up midweek win over Bethany JV

The Barton Community College baseball team split its Jayhawk West series at Colby over the weekend, winning 2 of the 4 games. The Cougars split doubleheaders both days, losing the opener and winning the nightcap. Barton then picked up a midweek win over the Bethany JV in easy fashion with a 23-5 win over the Swedes Tuesday at Lawson-Biggs Field. Barton is currently 11-9 in the Jayhawk West and 22-15 overall. Colby is among the West leaders at 11-5 in the conference and is now 18-12 overall. Barton will host Cloud County this weekend in West play at Lawson-Biggs Field. 

Highlights
The Cougars day one woes continued to start the series in Colby as Barton lost a 2-0 decision to the Trojans. The Cougars rebounded for just their 3rd day one win in the nightcap with a 13-5 victory. Barton is 3-7 on day one in the West. Barton saw its 7-game day two winning streak snapped to start Sunday with a 9-5 loss. Barton ended the series with an 18-12 win as the winds gusted to over 40 mph blowing out to right field. Barton is 8-2 on day two.

In the 2-0 loss, Barton got another excellent effort from Keith Picht. Picht suffered the loss and fell to 4-4 on the year, but allowed just 4 hits and one earned run in his 5-plus innings of work. Picht had blanked Colby on 3 hits through 5 innings of work before running into trouble to start the 6th. The 1st 3 batters reached base – single, hit by pitch, error – then a walk forced in the first run to make it 1-0. Kyle Leroy relieved Picht and after recording a shallow fly ball out, hit a batter to force in a 2nd run. Leroy retired the final two batters without another run scoring but those 2 runs proved to be the difference in the contest. Barton produced just 5 hits and left 6 runners on base in the loss. Barton never had a runner past 2nd base.

Barton fell behind 2-0 after the 1st in game two Saturday but rallied to tie the game at 2-all in the 3rd when Federico Castagnini singled in Corey Sager and Tanner Carpenter. That is where the game stayed until the 5th when the Cougars began to separate themselves from Colby. Barton scored 2 in the 5th, 4 in the 6th and 5 more in the 7th to build a 13-4 lead. Jordan Slade capped the scoring with a triple in the 7th that scored Sager and Michael Tennessen for the 9-run lead. Castagnini had 3 hits and 3 RBI in the win with Slade driving in 3 on 2 hits. Carpenter and Sager each scored 3 times. Ben French settled in after a rough opening inning to pick up his first win of the year and is now 1-2.

The Cougars and Trojans locked in another battle for much of the opener Sunday as well. Barton jumped out to an early lead with 2 in the opening at bat on a Tennessen single that scored Slate and Mitch Slauter. But single Colby runs in the 1st and 3rd tied the game at 2-all. It stayed 2-all until Colby opened things up with a 5-run 5th inning. A leadoff double followed by back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Brandon Wilson who cleared them with a grand slam home run. Barton would stay alive with 2 runs in the 6th to make it 7-4 but Colby scored two more times in the 6th of the 7-inning contest to open the lead back to 9-4. Slade went 4-for-4 at the plate and Adam Smith added a 3-for-4 day but it wasn't enough to overcome the grand slam by Wilson. Ian Smith took the loss in a fill in start for Robbie Van Cour. Van Cour – Barton usual game 3 starter – broke his finger Friday and is done for the year.

The already windy and cold day turned even more so in the finale as winds howled up to 50 mph from the north. With the wind blowing straight out to right the runs showed it with 3 home runs in the game and 30 total runs scored. Barton fell behind 5-0 after 2 innings of play but left-handed bat Nathan Miller found the helping wind to his liking with a 3-run homer that capped a 5-run 3rd for Barton and the scorefest was one. In four different innings Barton plated at least 4 runs while Colby scored in 5 of 9 innings. Barton appeared to have the game in hand after building a 13-4 lead in the top of the 6th but Colby scored in the next 3 innings to cut the lead to 13-12 heading into the 9th. The Trojans scored 4 times in the 8th to make the final inning very interesting.

The Cougars, however, responded with 5 runs of their own and an 18-12 lead. This time it was a Ryan Busboom doubled with the bases loaded that punctuated the inning and gave Barton the 6-run lead. The Cougars had 14 hits – 5 of those extra base knocks. In addition to the Miller home run, Busboom had a pair of doubles and Castagnini and Slade each doubled in the win. Busboom and Carpenter both had 3 hits with Busboom driving in 5 runs and Miller 4. Miller and Slauter both scored 4 times. Tayler Davis picked up the win in relief of starter Ben Minnihan. While not quite hitless like his previous outing against Seward, Davis went 6 innings and limited Colby to just 4 runs on the high-scoring day.

Barton had little trouble with a midweek win over the Bethany JV. Augie Morton had a big day at the plate going 4-for-6 with 7 RBI and 4 runs scored during the 23-run output. Morton had two triples. Dylan Monroe added 3 hits and 3 RBI while Corey Sager and Ian Smith both scored 4 times. The Cougars used 7 different pitchers with only start AJ Green going more than 1 inning, picking up the win in his 2 innings of work.

Notes
The Cougars will pitch the remainder of the season without Van Cour who broke a finger in practice Friday. Van Cour had been Barton's No. 3 starter all conference season and one of the most effective pitchers this year. Van Cour is 4-1 on the year with a 5.01 ERA. In his last 3 West outings, Van Cour had allowed just 6 earned runs on 17 hits with 19 strike outs and 6 walks.

The Cougars will have to shuffle their rotation with the loss of Van Cour. Ian Smith started in his place against Colby after spending the season in the late innings out of the Barton bullpen. AJ Green and Tayler Davis are also candidates to start in the upcoming series against Cloud County as Barton looks to shape its rotation for the stretch run of the regular season.

Jordan Slade and Tanner Carpenter were just two Cougar batters to have a big series at the plate against Colby. Slade hit .438 with 7 hits, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored from his leadoff spot. The sophomore center fielder had a triple and 2 doubles. Carpenter hit .500 going 6-of-12 with 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. After a rough start, Slade has worked his way up to .277 for the season and his 49 total bases are 3rd on the team. Carpenter is 2nd in batting average at .366.

The battle for a top 2 finish in the West and a home site for opening round play in the Region VI tournament will be at least a bit clearer after this weekend. For the Cougars to keep those hopes alive, Barton would need to win at least 3 against Cloud (4-12, 16-14). A pair of teams ahead of the Cougars – Seward County (11-5) and Garden City (10-2) – will face off in Garden. The only other team ahead of the Cougars is Colby and its series at Dodge City this weekend does not count toward Region VI standings. Dodge is playing Division II this season. 

Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonsports.com 

Next
April 9-10 – v Cloud County 1 pm (Jayhawk West series at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend)

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