PRATT— The Barton Community College baseball team went to Pratt on a roll. The Cougars had won six of their past seven games including 5-of-6 in Jayhawk West play to get back into the league race.

That all came crashing down in the opening doubleheader of the 4-game series. The Cougars dropped a pair of games to Pratt Monday after the rain moved the series back from the scheduled weekend affair at Stanion Field.

Barton fell behind early in first inning of both games losing 8-2 to open the series and 11-3 in the nightcap.

The losses drop the Cougars from the top half of the conference standings and ended their slim chances of a Jayhawk West title. Barton is now 13-13 in the West and 23-22 overall. Pratt is 12-14 and 19-26.

Barton remains in the hunt for a top three finish just a couple wins behind Hutchinson, Garden City, and Butler – all 15-13. Seward had separated itself from the rest of the conference with a 19-9 record. Dodge City is second at 17-11.

In the opener Barton basically gave Pratt a 4-0 lead. A walk, catcher’s interference and error to the first three batters gave the Beavers a 1-0 lead. After a single to make it 2-0 another Barton error allowed another run in.

Pratt pushed the lead to 6-0 in the third and the Cougars didn’t have much of a challenge the rest of the way.

Grant Watkins did hit his second homer of the season in the fourth and Dylan Kuhn doubled in Lance White in the fifth. White had doubled earlier in the inning. Those were three of the four hits Barton could muster in the game. Kuhn had the other hit as well – another double.

Pratt jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first inning of the second game. This time, though, the Beavers earned it. Barton scored an unearned run in the top of the first but Pratt came back with a pair of 2-out, 2-run homers.

That was just the beginning. The Beavers added two in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth building an 11-1 lead on the way to the easy win.

Kuhn was again the only Cougar with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 in the loss.