The Barton Community College baseball team finished 3-1 over the weekend after a pair of doubleheaders against Kansas Jayhawk Community College Eastern Division foe Butler at Lawson-Biggs Field.
The Cougars won Friday’s first game 8-7 in eight innings, but lost the second game 9-8. Barton swept Saturday’s doubleheader, winning 11-1 in the first game and 8-2 in game two.
In Friday’s opener, both teams remained scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when the floodgates opened.
Butler plated two, but Barton responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Heading into the seventh inning, Barton led 6-5, but starting pitcher Jason Harris gave up two runs, which gave the Grizzlies a 7-6 lead.
No worries. The Cougars’ Federico Castagnini led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run, tying the game and sending it into extra innings.
Devin Welch came in and pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, and Castagnini drove in Alex King with a single to left field to win the game.
“Castagnini homered to give us a chance and drove in the run that won the game,” Barton head coach Mike Warren said. “We were fortunate to have him at the plate when we needed the big hit. He’s been doing that all season long.
“He’s definitely the best shortstop in the region and one of the best in the country.”
The Cougars fed off the energy from game one, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning in Friday’s nightcap.
Barton scored three more runs, but the Grizzlies clawed back scoring one run in the second inning, three in the fourth and two in both the fifth and sixth innings.
With the score knotted at 8, Butler’s Levi Parker scored on a passed ball in the top of the seventh inning to give the Grizzlies a one-run advantage.
Barton opened the first game on Saturday with eight runs in the bottom of the first inning.
“When you score eight runs in the first inning, that’s really unexpected,” Warren said. “We came out ready to play out the shoot.”
It was Castagnini again with the first RBI, singling to left-center field to score King.
Garland, Smith and Dylan Turpin each followed with RBIs of their own.
Tracy and Great Bend High School product Logan Buehler each scored on an error.
Eric Carlson finished the scoring by driving in King, who scored his second run of the inning, with a triple.
Barton scored another three runs in the sixth inning to enable the run-rule.
Ashton Sivigliano pitched a complete game for the Cougars, allowing two hits and one walk. He had five strikeouts.
Barton southpaw Brett Bond returned from an injury for his first game in over a month with the Cougars.
Bond pitched into the sixth inning on a limited pitch count from Warren, giving up three hits, four walks and two earned runs while striking out two to record the win.
“Bond was coming off an injury and we had him on a pitch count,” Warren said. “We were going to give him 70 pitches and he made it to the sixth inning before he reached it.
“When he got injured, he was our best pitcher, so it is going to be nice to have him back.”

JUNIOR COLLEGE
BASEBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community
College Conference

At Great Bend
Lawson-Biggs Field

Friday

First game
Barton 8, Butler 7 (8)
                  123  456  78        R   H  E
Butler        000  212  20   —  7  10  1
Barton       000  402  11   —  8  10  1
     D. McKaskle, S. Paramore, G. Strunk, N. Briar & T. Bell; J. Harris, D. Welch & A. Smith. W — Welch; L — Strunk. 2B — Butler: G. Cook; Barton: Smith, Tracy. 3B — Barton: Garland, Trent. HR — Butler: T. Bell (2); Barton: Castagnini.

Second game
Butler 9, Barton 8
                  123  456  7        R   H  E
Butler        010  322  1   —  9  10   0
Barton       500  300  0   —  8   7   0
     T. Hendry, G. Hamilton, N. Briar & B. Parker; N. Loardi, B. Ramsey, B. Tunnell, M. Edlefsen & A. Vieyra. W — Briar; L — Tunnell. 2B — Butler: L. Parker, B. Colley; Barton: M. Edlefsen, F. Castagnini, C. Garland. HR — Barton: A. Trent.

Saturday

First game
Barton 11, Butler 1
                  123  456         R   H    E
Butler        000  010   —   1    2   4
Barton       800  003   —  11  14  2
     T. Berthusen, G. Hamilton & T. Bell, A. Sivigliano & A. Smith. W — Sivigliano; L — Bertusen. 2B — Barton: Castagnini, Garland, Tracy. 3B — Barton: Carlson (2).

Second game
Barton 8, Butler 2
                  123  456  789        R  H  E
Butler        010  010  000   —  2   6  7
Barton       104  030  00x   —  8  7  0
     G. Cook, R. Calvano, S. Paramore & T. Bell; B. Bond, S. Hill & A. Smith. W — Bond; L — Cook. 2B — Butler: T. Bell, G. Cook; Barton: Trent.