It’s a pretty good formula. Win three of every four Jayhawk West games. That formula will win conference titles more times than not.
So far, that formula has worked to the tune of a tie for the Jayhawk West lead for the Barton baseball team. Three 4-game series into the season and Barton stands a 9-3 in the West, tied for the top spot along with Colby.
The 13th ranked Cougars made it 3-of-4 for the third straight series with a split of games in Hutchinson Saturday after sweeping the Blue Dragons in Great Bend on Thursday.
The lone loss in the series came during the first game Saturday as Hutchinson scored a walk-off win with a single run in the bottom of the 7th for a 4-3 win.
The Cougars scored nine times in the final three innings of the second game for a 10-3 win.
Barton trailed 2-1 into the top of the 7th in Hutchinson before exploding for six runs in the inning.
Hutch helped them by hitting a pair of batters and committing an error to tie the game then Barton took a 3-2 lead on a Paul Claassen sac fly gave Barton a 3-2 lead.
Then the flood gates opened. Harrison Denk tripled in a run and scored on a Dawson Pomeroy single. After a pair of walks loaded the bases, Brady Michel came through with a 2-out single that scored Pomeroy and Kaden Fowler for a 7-2 lead on the way to the 10-3 win.
Michel, Claassen and Brett Erickson all drove in a pair during the win. Easton Smith picked up the win in relief, giving up a single run in 2.1 innings to improve to 2-0.
In the opener, Hutch got a 2-out single in the bottom of the 7th to pick up the win over the Cougars. It was the first time Hutchinson led the entire game.
Barton had just seven hits, with Denk collecting a pair of them. Fowler and Carson Engroff each had a double with Fowler, Michel and Denk driving in the three runs.
Barton will play a 4-game series with Pratt this week. The teams will play two at Pratt on Thursday with the Beavers coming to Great Bend on Saturday for a pair at Lawson-Biggs Field, starting at 1 p.m.

Game 1
Hutchinson 4, 13 Barton 3
Barton 100 110 0 – 3 7 2
Hutch 001 110 1 – 4 9 1
Curry, Howe (6) and Bonar; Reyes, Nedved (7) and Stephens. W – Nedved. L – Howe (2-1). 2B – Fowler, Engroff, Barton; Rip, Hutch. HR – Nedved, Hutch.

Game 2
13 Barton 10, Hutchinson 3
Barton 010 000 621 – 10 8 1
Hutch 010 010 010 – 3 8 2
Riley, Smith (6), Wulfkuhle (8) and Fowler; Brown, Hopkins (7), Moore (9) and Stephens. W – Smith (2-0). L – Hopkins. 3B – Denk, Barton.