Barton Community College knocked off No. 10-ranked Cowley 6-1 Tuesday evening with some heavy hearts at Lawson-Biggs Field.
The Cougars were playing without BCC head baseball coach Mike Warren, who was with his family after the passing of his father Dave Warren on Monday. He was 84.
To be certain, the Cougars dedicated this one to Warren in memory of his father.
Barton is 31-16 entering its Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division bye week this weekend, although the Cougars will host Southeast Community College (Neb.) in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at Lawson-Biggs.
The Cougars scored twice in the first inning against the Tigers on Tuesday. Federico Castagnini singled, stole second base and scored on a Mitch Slauter single to right. Slauter then stole second and scored on a Ryan Busboom’s RBI single to right for a 2-0 lead.
After Cowley closed to 2-1 in the second, that is where the game stayed until the bottom of the eighth when Barton broke it open. The Cougars scored four times on just three hits thanks to three Tigers errors in the inning.
Slauter doubled to start the inning and scored on a Nathan Miller single to right before Cowley started committing errors and helping the Cougars’ cause. Garland had a two-run single in the inning to score Miller and Busboom.
Ashton Sivigliano picked up the win with his scheduled three innings to start the game to improve to 2-0. Five Cougars pitchers scattered nine hits and allowed just a single run while striking out eight and walking only two.

Notes
Dave Warren coached Mike during his baseball days in high school. The duo helped lead Winfield High School to a state title in 1972. He is a member of the Kansas Collegiate Officials Hall of Fame and the Greater Wichita Officials Hall of Fame, as well as the Southwestern College Hall of Fame.
BCC assistant coach Brent Biggs stepped in as interim head coach in his absence.
The Cougars are done with the region portion of their schedule with the bye week this weekend in West play and the final series against Dodge City. Dodge is playing D-II this year and those games don’t count toward NJCAA Region VI playoff seeding. The Cougars are in the house at 18-10. Seward County is in position to be the No. 1 seed from the West with an 18-6 region record and just four games left to play — at Pratt (3-17) this weekend.
Colby (14-6) also has just six losses but has two series left – at Hutch (9-11) and at home against Pratt (3-17).
Garden City is 12-8 with two series left as well — vs. Cloud (4-16) and at Butler (10-14). The top two teams will host a 4-team sub regional to open post season action.
If the Cougars fall below the No. 2 seed, chances are they will be headed to Neosho County in Chanute or Cowley in Arkansas City to open the playoffs.
Coming off the weekend series at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado, four Cougars had seven hits in the Butler series as Barton’s hitters had their best weekend of the year in the hitter-friendly ballpark.
The Cougars pounded out 54 hits and scored 49 runs in the series. Barton hit .383 as a team with 17 extra-base hits. Barton hit five homers in the series. The Cougars came in with 11 home runs all season.
• Busboom was 7 for 14 with three homers, nine runs batted in and six runs scored.
• Slauter was 7 for 15 with two homers, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored.
• Slade went 7 for 17 with six RBIs and 10 runs scored.
• Miller finished 7 for 19 with nine RBIs.
                                                                                                                            — Mack McClure