No. 17 Barton Baseball secures program's 12th Jayhawk West Title with doubleheader sweep of Dodge City
No. 17 Barton Baseball secures program's 12th Jayhawk West Title; Alvord becomes program's single season home run leader #GoBarton
Having title hopes disrupted on Thursday afternoon, the No. 17 Barton Community College baseball team had plenty to celebrate in their return to Lawson-Biggs Field on Sunday afternoon as the Cougars took care of home turf clinching the program's 12th Jayhawk West crown with a 6-5 walk-off and 14-10 victory sweeping the doubleheader over Dodge City Community College.
Hunter Alvord's game tying solo-shot in the sixth followed by the sophomore's walk-off sacrifice fly in the seventh capped off Barton's 6-5 comeback victory in the opener. In the nightcap, Barton overcame a four-run deficit with nine unanswered runs over five innings securing the outright title and twin bill sweep 14-10.
Securing their third conference title over the last four seasons and salvaging the four-game split, the Cougars conclude league play at 26-6 and move to 39-10 on the season while Dodge City drops to 12-16 in conference play and 28-22 overall.
Barton will spend their conference bye week with a home and away four-game non-conference series with Jayhawk East foe Coffeyville Community College. The series will begin on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. from Coffeyville's Walter Johnson Park with the final two legs at Lawson-Biggs Field scheduled for Friday to conclude the regular season.
Kyle Graves led the Cougar offense out of the eight spot slashing .600 on the afternoon going 3-for-5 with an RBI and scoring a trio of times.
Alvord drove in a team high four runs becoming the school's new single season home run holder with his 15th big fly coming on the game tying sixth inning leadoff blast in the opener while finishing 3-for-8 at the dish over the pair of games.
Wyatt Yetter pieced together a second team best average of .571 concluding the afternoon 4-for-7 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored.
Game 1 Recap
Ayden Hadley's first inning oppositive field blast for his 10th of the season ignited a two-out three-run Cougar frame. Yetter's run producing double ensuing John Connors hit-by-pitch and Tate Blasi's first of two-RBI singles on the afternoon made it a 3-0 Barton advantage.
Much like Thursday, Dodge City answered the call with a pair in the top of the second coming off a leadoff home run and pair of singles adding another.
Scoreless over the next two innings, the Conquistadors broke through with the tying and go-ahead runs with a leadoff double crossing on a wild pitch and trio of two-out singles adding a pair for a 5-3 edge.
The Cougars would draw back within a run at the bottom of the fifth with Yetter's leadoff walk coming in on back-to-back two-out Graves and Cesar Gomez singles.
Down to their final six outs, Alvord supplied Barton's game tying run disposing the 3-1 pitch out to left center field for his single season record breaking 15th fence clearer of the season.
Following the second scoreless inning worked by Cougar reliever Cade Kunz, the Barton offense needed just four batters to deliver the game winning tally as Gomez and Tyler Janssen one-out singles in the seventh arranged Alvord's game winning sacrifice fly to walk it off 6-5.
Kunz (3-0) notched the victory in relief, working out of a two-on spot in the fifth with back-to-back scoreless frames to finish at 2.1-innings yielding just one walk and striking out three.
Starting pitcher Owen Pote earned a no-decision lasting 4.2-innings scattering nine hits, five runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
Game 2 Recap
Looking for the outright title after securing at-least a share in the opener, Barton found themselves in a 6-2 hole coming to bat in the home third following the Conquistadors second grand slam of the series.
Starting to chip away, Yetter's two-out single in the third produced the first of two straight Barton one run innings with Connors fourth frame single closing the gap, 6-5.
Back-to-back one-out Graves and Hayden Oviatt doubles in the fifth pushed across the tying run with the go-ahead run tagging up on Gomez sacrifice fly gifting Barton the lead for good at 7-6.
Hadley's first of two singles in the nightcap originated a trio of one baggers in the sixth and two-run cushion scoring on Blasi's single succeeding Yetter's initial two-out base hit.
Aided by a Conquistador error in the seventh and wild pitch bringing in Graves leadoff walk, Hadley and Connors two-out RBI singles increased the lead to five, 11-6.
A pair of Barton's three miscues in the nightcap kept Dodge City alive in the eighth as double and pair of hit-by-pitches generated a four run Conquistador inning cutting the deficit to 11-10.
The lead climbed back out to four in the home eighth as three straight singles from Yetter, Blasi and Oviatt furnished the first run with Alvord's two-out single through the left side capping the three-run frame for a 14-10 edge.
Ethan Minaker (5-2) grinded through 5.0-innings to earn the victory allowing five hits and six runs with four walks and four strikeouts. Andrew McCarthy handled the sixth and seventh, allowing one hit, four runs all unearned with a walk.
Entering a bases loaded jam with no-outs in the eighth, Kiernan Meredith notched his fourth save of the season limiting the damage with 2.0-innings, scattering a pair of hits with a strikeout.
All nine in Barton's lineup generated a hit while seven of the nine fabricated multiple hit performances as the Cougars outhit the Conquistadors 17-8 with only two going for extra bases.