The Barton baseball team just keeps on keeping on.
With a doubleheader sweep of Seward County Saturday afternoon at Lawson-Biggs Field, the Cougars took three of four from the Saints.
That is a theme the Cougars have been riding all season. Barton has yet to lose a 4-game series in the West in the six matchups. The Cougars have split once and swept an opponent once.
The other four series, Barton did just what they did this weekend, winning three of four.
That is good enough to put the Cougars at the top of the West standings.
After losing the opener in Liberal, Barton won the final three games.
The Cougars swept Seward Saturday afternoon, winning the opener 6-2 and the nightcap 4-3 in 12 innings.
Barton is 18-6 in the West. That is just ahead of Cloud County and Colby. Cloud is 17-7 after sweeping Hutch Saturday. Colby is 14-6 after winning two against Garden City.
Those are the two teams left on the West schedule for the Cougars. Barton will get next weekend off from the West, stepping out of conference to take on Coffeyville in a similar 4-game set.
The final two series will be Cloud to finish up April and Colby to wrap up the regular season to start May.
Saturday at Lawson-Biggs, the Cougars scored three times in the second inning to key the 6-2 win.
Owen Reynolds picked up the win stay perfect at 5-0. He gave up two runs and struck out four in his four innings of work.
Alex Rodgers had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBI. Rodgers also stole two bases to increase his single-season mark at Barton.
Rodgers broke the school record Thursday in Liberal, stealing four bases on the day to push to 41 on the season. That topped the record of 40 by George Martinez and Glenn Jackson set in 2002.
Rodgers stole four more on Saturday and now has 45 for the season.
Rodgers would provide the game-winning hit in the second game, singling in Joel Nieves for the sweep.
It was a contest that Barton looked to have wrapped up three innings earlier, taking a 3-1 lead into the 9th inning.
But Seward plated two runs in the inning to keep the contest going.
Barton looked to be in position for the win in the 10th when Rodgers singled and stole second with one out. The Cougars would eventually load the bases with one out but a double play ended the inning.
The 11th was similar. This time Barton had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out but another double play ended the inning.
That would not be the case in the 12th. Nieves led the inning off with a single, stole second on the first pitch and went to third on the throw.
The next pitch saw Rodgers deliver the game-winning RBI to right center.
It was the second hit and second RBI for Rodgers. For Nieves, it was his second hit and second run scored. Henry Hayman also had two hits, both doubles.
Ian Lanik picked up the win relief, going the final four innings to improve to 4-2.
Barton is off until Thursday when the Cougars will travel to Coffeyville for the first two of the 4-game set. The Red Ravens return the trip to Barton on Saturday for a pair.
Game1
Barton 6, Seward 2
Seward 001 010 0 - 2 8 2
Barton 130 200 x - 6 10 1
Day, Walker (6) and Gomez; Reynolds, Riley (7), Cornelius (7) and Allen. W - Reynolds (5-0). L - Day (2-6). S - Cornelius (4). 2B - Masters, Seward. 3B - Rodgers, Barton
Game 2
Barton 4, Seward 3
Seward 000 100 002 000 - 3 14 2
Barton 100 011 000 001 - 4 9 1
Curless, Cardenas (6) and Crowder; Cain, Bartels (6), Lanik (9) and Allen. W - Lanik (4-2). L - Cardenas (3-7). 2B - Hardin, Thomas, Seward; Hayman 2, Allen, Barton.
Thursday
Game1
Barton 2, Butler 1
Butler 001 000 0 - 1 2 2
Barton 001 000 1 - 2 4 2
Hyde, Wisner (7) and Stroh; Thornton and Allen. W - Thornton (4-0). L - Wisner (0-1).
Game 2
Barton 12, Butler 2
Butler 000 001 01 - 2 4 1
Barton 240 020 04 - 12 15 1
Leslie, Maley (5), Rinker (6), Friesen (7), Shaults (8) and Stroh; Cain, Stuart (6), Bartels (8) and Allen. W - Cain (1-0). L - Leslie (2-3). 2B - Rodgers, Hayman, Allen, Marquis, Maldanado, Barton. 3B- Wiley, Barton.
