The Barton Baseball Cougars opened their huge Jayhawk Conference series with Cloud County by sweeping a double header from the Thunderbirds at Lawson-Biggs Field Thursday. The victories give the Cougars a two game lead over Cloud as the series shifts to Concordia on Saturday.
In game one, Henry Hayam homered and had 3-rbi's to back to strong pitching of Zach Thorton to beat the T-Birds 6-0. Thorton went the distance, allowing only 4-hits while striking out 10 with just 3 walks.
In game two, Barton scored 5-runs in the bottom of the the sixth to break a 4-4 tie, then added 2-runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings to win the game 11-6.
Barton now has a two game lead in the Jayhawk West over both Cloud and Colby. The Cougars are 35-14 overall and 20-6 in league play. Cloud dropped to 37-14 and 20-10.