Barton Baseball takes out weekend frustrations with Tuesday non-conference sweep

A non-conference doubleheader was just what the doctor ordered as the Barton Community College baseball team took out their past weekend's frustrations on the junior varsity squad from Bethany College, scoring in each of their frames at-bat Tuesday at Lawson-Biggs Field to earn a pair of five inning rule contests.  The Cougars pounded out nine extra base hits in the opener as twenty total hits led to a 15-5 victory before a nine-run first inning powered the doubleheader sweep with a 22-4 win.  Barton improves to 29-13 on the season and sits in fourth place in the Jayhawk West at 11-9 headed to their upcoming four game conference series against Seward County Community College as the surging Saints come to Lawson-Biggs Field with a 9-11 conference record and 16-23 on the season having won six of their last eight ball games.  First pitch for both Friday and Saturday's doubleheaders slated for 1:00 p.m.

Every Cougar collected a hit in the first game led by the three hits from Brady Michel, Carson Engroff, and Jared Maneth.

In a twinbill filled with many highlights and run production, a number of firsts occurred in the evening beginning with Engroff as the freshman came within a triple of the cycle in his 3-for-3 game one performance.   Collecting his first collegiate double in leading off the second, Engroff would later drive a third inning 2-0 two-out pitch over the left field fence for not only his first home run but first runs batted in.  The Topeka Hayden graduate would end his day tacking on to his RBI total with a single in the fifth helping lead a six run game clinching fifth inning.

Michel would also come an at-bat opportunity short of the cycle contributing to one of the Cougars' four doubles in the game with a second inning RBI drive to left.  Michel also joined Dawson Pomeroy and Alan Clark with triples in the fifth inning as Clark's second of the game led off the inning, Pomeroy's scorched the fielder in right, and two batters later Michel drove his to center.

Rounding out the highlighted trio, Great Bend's Maneth made the most of his start behind the plate joining Engroff for the team lead in RBIs driving in three including the game winning two plate touches with his third hit of the game.

Cole Henley worked the first three innings to pick up the victory improving to 3-1 on the season giving way to Kody Lang and Keaton Suellentrop in closing out the final two innings.

Barton didn't pound out as many hits in the nightcap but still spread the wealth throughout the lineup with nine players accounting for the thirteen hits.  Four players gathered two hits highlighted by Brett Huelsmann's 2-for-3 game including a second inning 3-2 pitch mash out of the park to left field for his first collegiate home run and RBI, finishing tied for the team lead with four runs batted in.

Derek Johnson matched Huelsmann's run production with one swing of the bat, ripping a 3-2 two-out pitch down the left field line for his first of the season in clearing the bases highlighting the Cougars' nine run first inning.

The Cougars connected for four more doubles in the second leg of the twinbill as Michael Sinks increased his Barton career total to thirty-six in his second at-bat of the first inning before Corrigan Bartlett belted his fourth long ball of the season with the two-run shot to left center camping the inning.

Trey Pittman began the first inning onslaught with the first of his two doubles in the contest driving in the first two runs.  Being replaced in the lineup after leading off the third with his second double, Ryan Schippers kept the position double streak rolling roping a double down the line adding two more runs on the scoreboard.

Amongst the four home runs to go along with the doubles, Taylor Langston produced the Cougars' final long ball crushing his fourth of the season over the Lawson-Biggs Field scoreboard in left center driving in three of his now twenty-one RBIs of the season.

Neil Lemmons improved to 2-0 in his freshman season scattering three hits while striking out three in his three innings of work.  Alex Feldkamp shut down the Swedes' fourth sending Bethany down in order while recording his first two collegiate strikeouts with Brad Reif closing out the game in fifth.