Barton Baseball snaps Butler's nine game win streak in doubleheader split

The Barton Community College baseball team bounced back from a 7-3 loss to Butler Community College in the first game of Saturday's conference doubleheader at Lawson-Biggs Field to hold on for an 11-7 victory in the nightcap over Butler Community College.  The split puts Barton at 16-11-1 on the season and 7-7 in conference play while snapping Butler's nine game win streak in moving to 16-9 overall and 7-3 in conference.  The teams return to Lawson-Biggs Field at 1:00 p.m. Sunday to conclude the four game series.

Game One
Carson Corff was solid on the mound for Butler in game one, limiting the Cougars to three hits and no runs going into the 7th inning.  The Grizzlies chased Barton starter Brandon Mercer from the game in the third inning scoring seven runs on eight hits.  Craig Hamil came in to get the Cougars out of the third, stranding two Butler base runners.  Hamil put the clamps on the Grizzlies the rest of the game scattering three hits and striking out four in 4.2 innings of work.

Barton's offensive highlight didn't come until the seventh inning when the Cougars broke through for three runs.  Braxon Byfield led off the inning driving a shot into the teeth of the north wind burning the left fielder.  Caleb Cherryholmes followed with a single to left as an error on the Butler left fielder allowed Byfield to score and Cherryholmes to advance to second.  Grant Watkins then smashed a triple over the right fielder's head rolling to the wall easily allowing Cherryholmes to score. Two pitches later Watkins scored on a passed ball but that was as close as the Cougars could come falling 7-3.

Game Two
After a Barton error to begin game two, Butler utilized small ball getting a steal, sac bunt, and sac fly to take the early 1-0 lead.

The Cougars struck back in the bottom of the second as Braxon Byfield led off the inning getting hit by pitch with Caleb Cherryholmes following by drawing a walk.  Grant Watkins loaded the bases with a hard single to right field.  Great Bend native Jace Bowman then sent a shot up the middle but was stabbed by shortstop Zach Baker before it reached the outfield. Baker flipped to second but a hustling Watkins reached the base prior as Byfield scampered home from third.  Evan McDonald then got into the RBI parade driving home Cherryholmes with a single to right.  Kyle Cromwell reached on a fielder's choice allowing Watkins to score then Jacoby Richardson followed with single to right as McDonald came home on the throw.  Trevor Turner would get Cromwell home with a single to center and a Scott Tyler sac fly to right would drive in the sixth run of the inning.

With Michael Turner shutting down the Butler bats, Barton would add three more on two outs in the fourth inning capitalizing on three Butler errors to take a 9-1 lead.  Watkins had the lone hit of the inning driving a pitch to left field to score Tyler who drew a two-out walk.

Barton's defense began to fail Turner in the fifth as the Cougars committed two infield errors on two outs to allow Butler to produce two runs on one-hit.  Butler left the bases loaded as Turner got Alex Weiss to ground out in a fielder's choice.

A leadoff single by Logan Beard was a sign of things to come as the Grizzlies finally were able to get to Turner in the seventh.  Following Turner's fourth strike-out victim of the game, Ty Redington singled setting up Evan Koehler to drive in two runs with a double to left field.  Alexander Evans was called out of the pen to relieve Turner and was promptly greeted with a Garrett White single.  Evans then struck out Weiss and appeared to get out of the inning as Byfield's throw to second to pick off a White on a steal attempt went under the mitt of Cromwell allowing Koehler to score from third.

Barton couldn't capitalize on two two-out Butler errors in the home half of the seventh stranding two Cougars and clinging to 9-6 lead. 

Butler would cut the deficit to two in the eighth as Dalton Wheat delivered a two out single up the middle to score Zach Baker who drew a one-out walk.

Barton answered back in the bottom of the eight as Richardson led off the inning with a walk.  Following a Turner sac bunt advancing Richardson to second, Tyler followed with a walk to chase reliever Kyle Vogt from the game being replaced by Eliot King.   Following a passed ball, Byfield greeted King with a RBI single to left and for the tenth time this season, Cherryholmes reached base via hit by pitch.  Bowman pushed the Barton lead out to 11-7 with a fielder's choice to shortstop driving home Byfield.

Striking out the first two Grizzlies in the ninth, Evans was ahead in the count 1-2 but Weiss drove a triple just inside the right field line to keep the inning alive.  The Cougars could have escaped without further damage but the fifth Barton error of the game allowed Butler to score on a Jake Huscroft ground ball.  Evans then induced Cameron Knight to ground out to shortstop to preserve the 11-7 win.

Michael Turner improved to 4-1 on the season working 6.1 innings of five-hit ball, allowing six runs with only two earned, while walking two and striking out four.  Evans worked the last 2.2 innings for his fourth save of the season scattering three hits and allowing one earned run in walking one and striking out three.

Brady Holcomb dropped to 4-2 on the season lasting only 1.2 innings allowing six runs on six hits while walking one and striking out one.

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