No. 19 Cougars pile up 37 runs in doubleheader sweep of Pratt; Biggs notches win No. 400 #GoBarton

The No. 19 Barton Baseball team picked up its seventh straight home conference sweep on Thursday afternoon winning 14-4 in six innings and 23-14 over Pratt Community College at Lawson-Biggs Field.

The Cougars combined for 37 runs on 27 hits to take the opening two games of a weekend four game set with the Beavers. Barton scored in all but the first inning of the opener before busting open game two scoring nine unanswered over the final three frames in securing the twinbill sweep.

Notching Head Coach Brent Biggs' 400th and 401st victories as the Cougars' head skipper, Barton extends the winning streak to 16-straight to maintain their Jayhawk West lead at 22-4 and 34-8 overall as the Beavers slide to 5-17 in league play and 12-32 on the season. 

Due to inclement weather forecasted for Saturday, the final two games of the weekend four game set will come tomorrow afternoon (Friday) at 1:00 p.m. from Pratt's newly turf surfaced Stanion Baseball Field.

The Cougars batted .397 on the afternoon, 17 of their 27 hits coming off extra bases as six came on doubles, five triples and six leaving the yard for home runs.

Wyatt Yetter led the Cougars' fireworks connecting on extra bases in five of his seven hits in 10 at-bats, driving in a team high 11 runs coming on a trio of doubles, and a pair of no-doubt home runs in the nightcap, the first coming back-to-back following John Connors first-inning two-out fence clearer before dispensing his sixth of the season with an eighth inning grand slam.

Freshman Tyler Janssen added the second most RBI production out of the leadoff spot, bringing in five runs between the pair of contests, blasting the Cougars' lone fence clearer in the opener capping the decisive six-run fifth that reclaimed Barton's lead for good and built up a 9-4 advantage.

In the nightcap and trailing 11-5 headed to the bottom of the fifth, the Cougar offense quickly erupted with 11 runs on four hits and pair of Pratt miscues extending the inning and giving Barton the lead back. Tate Blasi's hit-by-pitch and walk to Kyle Graves began the power surge with three straight hits trimming the deficit to 11-9 behind Cesar Gomez run producing double, Janssen's two-RBI triple and Hunter Alvord's single, the first of his two hits coming in the nightcap.

Back-to-back Beaver errors allowed the tying run to cross with Kyle Walker's lone hit of Game 2 pushing the Cougars in front and double-play allowing a run to cross for a 14-11 lead.

Deadlocked at 14-all heading to bottom of the fifth, Alvord's leadoff walk and pressure on the bases sparked a three-run response scoring on Pratt's third error of the game with two more added from Yetter's double and Graves single stretching the lead back to three.

The Cougars utilized the long ball over the final three innings, Alvord's sixth inning team leading 11th home run of the season sparked another back-to-back Barton yard party as Ayden Hadley ensued with his eighth of the season.

Yetter's seventh hit of the day put the final touching's on the scoreboard in the eighth as the sophomore launched his second souvenir of the game virtue of a grand slam ballooning the lead to 23-14.

Game 1 starting pitcher, Antonio Mendez (6-1) went the distance for the second time this season, as the freshman scattered six hits for four runs and struck out seven, falling one shy from his career high.

Utilizing four different arms in the nightcap, reliever Cade Kunz (2-0) delivered a masterful shutout performance out of the bullpen to earn the victory, as the sophomore worked the final five-frames behind a new career high 78-pitches. Kunz permitted just two hits, two walks and struck out a new career high six in the winning effort.

Having his 13-game hit streak snapped in Tuesday's 10-0 win over No. 3 Cowley, Hadley keyed the offense out of the third spot in the lineup going 5-for-7 behind a home run, two triples, double, trio of RBIs, and walking twice.