LINDSBORG – The Barton baseball team put up two more wins Tuesday, scoring a couple mid-week non-conference victories over the Bethany JV.

Barton won 7-2 and 3-0 over the Swedes to improve to 24-9 on the season. The Cougars have won 6-of-8 mid-week battles since the start of Jayhawk Conference play.

Bethany actually led 2-0 in the opener heading into the top of the fourth inning. In that inning Barton would score three times and never trail the rest of the time in Lindsborg.

Barton scored in four straight innings on the way to win.

Brett Erickson had a big opener for Barton, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Erickson also stole three bases in the win to run his team-leading total to seven.

Nolan Riley had two hits and scored twice.

Casey Wulfkuhle came on to pitch in the bottom of third and shut out Bethany over five innings to earn the win. The sophomore from Topeka is 1-0 on the season.

In the second game, Barton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, when Carson Zenger singled in Andrew Stewart. The lead grew to 3-0 in the fifth when Chandler Kelley singled in Micah Grover and Braden Carpenter.

That was all the Cougars needed. The pitching of Jacob Ensz, Clay Wesbrooks, Cade Peters, and Tanner Howe allowed just four hits in the shutout win. The Swedes never got a runner past second base.

Ensz started, went four innings and improved to 1-2. Howe picked up his ninth save.

Barton will try to keep sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk West against Colby in a 4-game series to get started today. The Cougars, 11-5 in the West, will host Colby for a pair today at Lawson-Biggs Field, starting a 1 pm. The two will conclude the series in Colby Saturday.

The Cougars have a 1-game lead on both Butler and Hutchinson. Colby is 6-6 in the West.

G1

Barton 7, Bethany JV 2

Barton     000  312  1 – 7  9  1

Bethany   101  000  0 – 2  6  0

Winkelmann, McClure (2), Wulfkuhle (3) and Bloomer. W – Wulfkuhle (1-0).

G2

Barton 3, Bethany JV 0

Barton     100  020  0 – 3  5  0

Bethany   000  000  0 – 0  4  x

Ensz, Wesbrooks (5), Peters (6), Howe (7) and Carpenter. W – Ensz (1-2).