Needing a win to snap a four game slide, a trip to Lindsborg, Kansas, provided a little relief for the Barton Community College baseball team as the Cougars returned home after a 10-3 win over the junior varsity squad of Bethany College. Held in check the first five innings the Cougars scored at least two runs in each of the last four innings improving to 22-18 on the season. Barton will return to conference play this weekend hosting Pratt Community College at Lawson-Biggs Field in a four-game series. Originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, in anticipation of wet weather sweeping through the area, the teams have moved up the series to 2:00 p.m. doubleheader on Friday followed by Saturday’s twin bill scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.
Swedes’ starting pitcher Trevor Lemanske kept the Barton bats silent through the first five innings before Alan Clark broke up the no-hitter leading off the sixth. Drake Bliss followed with his lone hit of the game with Michael Sinks‘ groundout breaking the scoreboard goose egg scoring Clark. One batter latter Corrigan Bartlett picked up his lone hit driving in Bliss and chasing Lemanske from the game as the Cougars grabbed a 2-1 lead.
The Cougars loaded up the bases in the seventh getting a Mason Hightower and Trey Pittman single before Clark drew a full count walk. Bliss increased the lead with a sac fly before Sinks drove in his team leading two runs batted in pushing the lead out to four.
Two of the seven Swedes’ errors in the game helped set up a two run eighth with Ryan McClure scoring the first having reached on a lead off error with Pittman driving in Taylor Langston who walked early in the inning.
Scoring an unearned run back in the first inning, Bethany cut into the six run deficit in the home half of the eighth as a one-out walk and single would later score on a two-out single.
Barton made sure any glimmer of a Bethany comeback was squelched in the following inning as the Cougars put up another three spot in their final at-bat. Sinks joined Hightower and Pittman in the multi-hit club leading off the inning with a single moving to second on a wild pitch before scoring on the Swede misplay on Bartlett’s ball in play to first base. McClure followed with an RBI single scoring on Hightower’s third hit of the game coming with two outs.
Daniel Kohl picked up the victory relieving starter Avery Riedmiller for the fourth inning pitching three complete innings. Improving to 3-0 on the season, Kohl shut down the Swedes surrendering a lone hit, walk, and a strikeout throwing just twenty-eight pitches.
