Needing an offensive breakout to awaken from an offensive slump, the Barton Community College baseball team pounded out 28 hits in a doubleheader sweep of the Bethany College junior varsity squad on Wednesday at the Philip Anderson Baseball Field.
The Cougars connected on 14 hits in each game in winning 15-3 in the first game and 9-4 in the second. Barton improves to 11-17 on the season and stands at 6-10 in Jayhawk Conference play, entering this weekend’s conference four-game series at Butler. The first pitch for Friday’s doubleheader at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado scheduled for 1 p.m.
Game 1
Barton 15, Bethany 3
Barton scored two in the first inning to break a streak of seventeen consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the second game of last week-end’s four-game series against Cloud County Community College. Alex King led off the game with a single to center then scored two batters later on a Dylan Turpin sacrifice fly. Nathan Train followed Turpin with a single to center scoring Erik Benson giving the Cougars a 2-0 early lead.
Oscar “Tito” Andino led off the Barton third inning with a double to right field, scoring on Train’s groundout to shortstop.
Barton increased their lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth getting a sacrifice fly by Diego McCollum and an Andino RBI single to center.
After Bethany scored one in the home half of the fourth, the Cougars broke the game open in the sixth inning with ten runs. Andino and Turpin each had two singles in the inning as Barton pounded out seven singles and a double while taking advantage of three Swede errors in taking the 15-1 lead. Bethany pushed across two runs in the bottom of the inning as Barton took game one 15-3.
Andrew Ferguson picked up the win for the Cougars to even his season mark at 2-2 pitching two hitless and scoreless innings.
Game 2
Barton 9, Bethany 4
In the nightcap, it was Bethany with the early advantage taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Cougars responded with three runs in the second as Braxton Byfield and Great Bend prodcut Jace Bowman led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Caleb Cherryholmes' sacrifice fly scored Byfield, while Great Bend product Mitch Kottas’ RBI double drove home Bowman. Kottas scored two batters later as King’s single to left field put the Cougars in front at 4-3.
The Andino-Turpin duo, who combined for ten hits and ten RBIs in the doubleheader, struck again in the top of the third as Andino’s lead-off triple to left field was rewarded with Turpin’s single up the middle giving Barton a 4-2 lead.
After each team had a couple of scoreless innings, the Swedes cut into the Barton lead getting one in the bottom of the fifth. The Cougars responded in the top of the sixth as Coombs led off the inning with a single then advanced on an errant throw by Bethany pitcher Cory Skerce. King’s single up the middle scored Coombs then reached home on Andino’s RBI double to left field.
Bethany loaded the bases in the home half, getting a one-out single by Matt Gabrielson, but Barton hurler Michael Turner induced an inning-ending double play to preserve the 6-4 lead.
Barton increased their lead in the seventh and final inning on three hits, the first coming from Andre Vieyra. Batting .440 on the season but seeing limited action the last three weeks due to injury, Vieyra delivered a pinch hit one-out single to right field before giving way to pinch runner Diego McCollum. After stealing second base, McCollum scored on a King single to left giving Barton a three-run advantage.
A Benson fielder’s choice, which scored Coombs, was followed by an Andino RBI triple to center, his sixth run batted in on the day, as Barton controlled a 9-4 lead to the bottom of the seventh.
Craig Nicks struck out the last two Swede batters to end the game and help starting pitcher Michael Johnson improve to 2-2 on the season.
For the series, shortstop Andino was 7-for-10 with two doubles and two singles while knocking in six runs.
Complete statistics, as well as additional information regarding the Cougars, can be found online at www.BartonSports.com
