No. 24 Cougars walk off opener, erupt in nightcap to sweep Garden City #GoBarton

The No. 24 Barton Community College baseball team extended its winning streak to seven straight games Thursday afternoon at Jimmy Lawson-Danny Biggs Field, sweeping Garden City Community College in dramatic and dominant fashion with a 3-2 walk-off victory before rolling to a 24-3 seven-inning run-rule win in the nightcap.

Barton needed late-game heroics to secure the opener, drawing a bases-loaded walk by Rhett Winchester in the bottom of the seventh to walk it off. The offense took over in the nightcap, scoring in all six offensive innings, highlighted by an 11-run fifth inning to secure the opening two games of the four-game series.

With the sweep, the Cougars improve to 21-5 overall and 7-3 in Jayhawk West play, while the Broncbusters drop to 8-18 on the season and 2-8 in league play. The two teams will conclude the four-game series on Saturday afternoon in Garden City with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch at Williams Stadium.

Barton paired situational execution in the opener with an offensive outburst in the nightcap, producing 27 runs on 24 hits across the pair of contests. Winchester continued his hot stretch with a 5-for-8 (.625) day, recording two doubles, a triple, a home run and five RBIs. Kyle Walker matched the effort, going 5-for-8 (.625) with a triple and three RBIs, while Jack Jewell added a 3-for-5 showing with a double and four RBIs. Kyle Graves and Kyler Horsman also turned in strong performances with three and four hits respectively, combining for four RBIs.

Game 1 Recap
The Cougars erased a two-run deficit in the third inning and walked it off in the home seventh, defeating the Broncbusters 3-2 in the opener. Barton answered Garden City's two-run third inning with a pair of runs in the home half behind Walker's RBI single and Winchester's run-scoring double to even the contest.

After both sides were held scoreless over the next three frames, Barton capitalized in the seventh as Jewell's two-out hit-by-pitch sparked the rally. Fresh off the bench, Hayden Oviatt entered as a pinch runner and swiped second to apply the pressure before JJ Spafford drew a walk and Walker reached on an infield single to load the bases, setting up Winchester's bases-loaded walk to bring in the winning run.

On the mound, Antonio Mendez (2-1) tossed a complete game, allowing two runs on nine hits without a walk and one strikeout.

Game 2 Recap
Barton broke the game open early and never looked back in the nightcap, erupting for 24 runs on 18 hits in a seven-inning run-rule victory to complete the sweep. The Cougars scored in all six offensive innings, highlighted by an 11-run fifth inning to put the contest out of reach.

Winchester continued his torrid stretch with his seventh straight multi-hit performance, finishing a single shy of the cycle at 3-for-5 with a triple, double and his team-tying seventh home run of the season while driving in three. Walker extended his on-base streak to 24 straight games with three hits including a triple and two RBIs, while Horsman chipped in four hits and two RBIs.

Providing the exclamation point, Jordan Raposo delivered in his lone at-bat of the day, blasting a pinch-hit grand slam for his first collegiate hit as part of a six-run sixth inning.

Starting hurler, Braden Hauschel (2-2) earned the win with five shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out four. Eli Lang followed with 1.2 scoreless innings in relief before Jack Dilley needed just one pitch to record the final out.