Barton Baseball rallies in nightcap to complete four-game sweep of Colby #GoBarton

The Barton Community College baseball team's trek to a series sweep of the Colby Community College Trojans had two different roads on Sunday afternoon at Young Memorial Field.

In the opener Ayden Hadley's 3-for-3 five-RBI performance in the opener piloted the Cougars to a cruise control series clinching 9-4 victory in Game 1 before needing to rally in the nightcap.

Trailing 5-4 with two-outs in the ninth, Hadley delivered in the clutch with a game tying RBI double, later scoring off a Colby error supplying Barton a short-lived 6-5 lead, as Isaiah Padilla's bottom of the ninth two-out solo shot forced extra innings. In the extra frame, the Cougars took advantage of five free bases coming on a hits batsman and four walks plating the go-ahead two runs downing Colby 8-6 in the series finale.

Winners of seven straight, Barton maintains its' Jayhawk West lead at 16-4 and move to 25-8 overall while Colby drops to 10-6 in league play and 22-15 overall.

Next up for the Cougars is Tuesday's non-conference doubleheader road trip to the junior varsity squad of McPherson College in a 12:00 p.m. first pitch. Barton will remain on the road Thursday with a road trip to conference foe Garden City Community College before concluding the four-game series on Saturday at Lawson-Biggs Field.

Hadley led the Cougars 17 hits on the afternoon going 5-for-8 with a home run, three doubles, trio of walks and eight RBIs in the twinbill.

Game 1 Recap
The Cougar bats came out swinging scoring the opening nine runs.

A trio of run producing singles from Kyle Graves, Tyler Janssen and Hadley mixed with a Cesar Gomez RBI sacrifice bunt gifted Barton a 4-0 second inning lead.

The Cougars then erupted for five runs between the fourth and fifth innings with Hadley knocking in four of the runs behind his fourth inning two-run home run for his seventh of the year before tacking on two more runs with a fifth inning double.

Wyatt Yetter capped Barton's scoring a batter later driving in Hadley with one of his two doubles in the opener for a 9-0 advantage.

Colby outscored the Cougars 4-0 following, with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth followed by two runs added in the sixth on a bases loaded hit batsman and walk.

Starting hurler Owen Pote (5-2) earned the victory with 5.2-innings of work in his start. Pote allowed four runs off six hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

Andrew McCarthy worked one-inning in relief surrendering a pair of walks and hit before giving way to Preston Golden for the final out coming on a pop up to prevent any Trojan comeback.

Hadley led the Cougars' eight-hit attack going 3-for-3 with a home run, double and pair of walks. Yetter collected the other lone multi-hit performance with a 2-for-4 performance, two doubles and RBI.

Game 2 Recap
Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, Cesar Gomez leadoff single sparked life in the Barton offense. Pinch running with Cooper Tabor, the sophomore swiped second moving into scoring position and advanced 90-feet away on a groundout. Fighting his way back from a 1-2 count, Hadley furnished the tying run lacing a 3-2 count RBI double to right field for his second two-base hit of the contest.

Swiping third base for just his fifth stolen base of the year, Hadley advanced home with the go-ahead run off Colby's throwing error at third but Padilla's game tying solo blast in the bottom of the ninth to left field forced extra innings.

In the extra frame, Barton benefitted off 12 balls to just one strike over the first three batters to load the bases with no-outs on Janssen's leadoff plunking, Kyle Graves, and Landon Haines walks.

Following a strikeout for the first out of the inning, Hunter Alvord supplied the game winning run drawing a bases loaded walk off a 3-2 count ensued by an insurance run off Hadley's 3-2 count drawn RBI walk.

Returning to the mound with a two-run lead, Haines shut the door down sending Colby down in order with two of his five strikeouts over his 3.1-innings of relief. The freshman improved to (3-0) on the year yielding two hits and one run.

Starting pitcher Ethan Minaker earned a no-decision in his 6.1-innings. The sophomore scattered 10 hits for five runs with one walk and five strikeouts. 

Offensively Hadley keyed the Barton bats turning in a 2-for-5 finale with two doubles and three RBIs.

Alvord produced the other multi-RBI performance driving in a pair behind his 1-for-3 game two performance. Alvord's first run producer brought Barton back within a run, 3-2 with a two-out fifth inning solo-shot for his eighth big fly of the season before supplying the go-ahead RBI bases loaded walk in the 10th.