Hersch pitches no-hitter, Barton baseball takes three over WNCC

Freshman Justin Hersch pitched a no-hitter and the Barton Community College baseball team went 3-0-1 over Western Nebraska Community College this weekend.   Played in La Junta, Colorado, Barton opened the weekend series Saturday with a 6-3 victory before the teams battled to a 3-3 tie in the nightcap as darkness suspended play as they headed to the top of the 7th inning.  On Sunday Barton swept the doubleheader winning 10-0 in the first game then wrapped up the series with a 4-0 victory.   Colorado native Hersch pitched a no-hitter in the Cougars' 10-0 five inning victory on Sunday as the left hander struck out five while only walking one.  Barton improves to 4-3-1 on the season and heads to Hays, Kansas, to take on the Fort Hays State University Junior Varsity at 3:00 p.m.  The Cougars will open their home portion of the schedule Monday, February 24, in a doubleheader against Midland University Junior Varsity.

Saturday – Game 1
Barton's Jace Bowman led the Cougars in game one going 3-for-4 and three RBIs.  The sophomore second baseman got the Cougars going leading off the 2nd inning with a triple to right field.  Bowman would later score on a Grant Watkins sacrifice giving Barton the early lead.  Watkins would also hit a triple on the day driving a 1-1 pitch to center in the fourth inning to score Evan McDonald who led off the inning with a single to regain the two-run cushion giving Barton a 4-2 lead in the fourth.

Getting his first victory of the season, freshman hurler Brandon Mercer pitched a solid five innings to strike out four while surrendering six hits and only one earned run.

Western Nebraska cut the deficit to one headed to the top of the seventh but Bowman came through with a two out single to center driving home two more runs to push the lead out to three.  Alexander Evans came on to put the nail in coffin to send the Western Nebraska batters down in order to pick up his second save of the season. 

Saturday – Game 2
With the 1-2-3 hitter reaching base to start the game, Scott Tyler broke the Cougar scoring with a sacrifice fly to score leadoff batter Jacob Richardson.  Jace Bowman would get his fourth RBI of the day one batter later doubling home Trevor Turner who had reached earlier courtesy of a Western Nebraska error.

The WNCC Cougars would strike back in the home half of the first as David Martinez's double to right field scored Joe Moran and Cameron Snyder.

After a couple of scoreless innings, Barton regained the lead in the top of the fourth.  Caleb Cherryholmes and Kyle Cromwell both reached via singles with Cherryholmes moving to third on Richardson's fielder's choice to second base. Cherryholmes would then score on Western's Palser's balk.

WNCC would force the tie in the fifth getting a triple from Cody Gifford and fielder's choice by Moran.  With darkness starting to prevail the game was suspended after completing the sixth with the score tied at 3.

Michael Turner pitched five innings for the Cougars striking out five while giving up four hits and three runs.

Sunday – Game 1
Freshman Justin Hersch made the most of his return to his home state of Colorado by firing a no-hitter in helping Barton to the 10-0 victory.  The left-hander from Fort Collins faced the minimum in getting five strikeouts and inducing a double-play to erase his lone walk on the day and improve to 2-0 on the season.

The Cougars struck for four runs in the first led by Scott Tyler's two RBI double to score Jacob Richardson and Trevor Turner. Barton added two more in the inning courtesy of a WNCC error and a Grant Watkins sacrifice. 

Brian Regan helped set the stage for a six Barton runs in the third lacing a triple to centerfield.  Regan would score one batter later as Bowman hit his second double of the weekend series.  The Cougars also got RBI singles from Grant Watkins, Jacob Richardson, and Scott Tyler.

Sunday – Game 2
Freshman Jacob Richardson, who set the table for the Cougars all weekend batting .545 in the leadoff position, tripled to center to begin the inning scoring later on Trevor Hughes' hit by pitch.  Jace Bowman's sacrifice fly scored Trevor Turner to give Barton the early 2-0 lead.

Braxon Byfield led off the third inning with a double to left then advanced on Hughes' infield single, scoring on Grant Watkins' single to left. Evan McDonald sacrifice to score Hughes gave Barton its second run of the inning and four run cushion.

Freshman Jayme Lovelace rebounded from a rough debut last weekend to pitch five innings of four-hit ball with no walks and one strikeout to pick up the win.