By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
The No. 24 Barton Community College baseball team completed a four-game weekend sweep of Garden City Community College on Saturday afternoon at Lawson-Biggs Field.
Cesar Gomez initial go-ahead sac-fly followed two batters later by Hunter Alvord's no-doubt home run off the top of the indoor facility in the bottom of the sixth pushing the Cougars in front for good earning a 7-6 Game 1 victory.
Looking for the sweep in the nightcap, Alvord, Tyler Janssen and Wyatt Yetter drove in nine of the 15 runs while starting pitcher Ethan Minaker manufactured his collegiate first complete game shutout directing Barton to 15-0 seven-inning run rule win.
Maintaining its lead in the Jayhawk West standings, the Cougars improve to 20-4 in league play and 31-8 overall while the Broncbusters fall to 5-15 in league play and 16-23 on the season.
Extending the win streak to a season best 13-straight, Barton will look to keep it alive in Tuesday's final leg of a home and away midweek non-conference series with No. 4 Cowley. First pitch of the nine-inning contest comes at 2:00 p.m. from Lawson-Biggs Field, as the Cougars defeated the Tigers back on April 1st 12-8 in Arkansas City.
Game 1 Recap
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, John Connors RBI double and Kyle Walker's go-ahead RBI triple a batter ensuing supplied Barton its first lead of 5-4.
Squandering the lead with the Broncbusters fashioning the tying run in the top of the sixth, the Cougar offense immediately answered the call with two of its five extra base hits coming in the home half.
Kyle Graves leadoff triple kickstarted the decisive two-run frame coming home on Gomez sacrifice fly pushing Barton back in front for the sophomore second RBI. A batter following, Alvord delivered the eventual game winner launching his team leading ninth home run of the season off the top of the left field indoor facility for a 7-5 lead.
Refusing to go away, Garden City generated back-to-back singles to start the seventh with one of the two Cougar errors in the game drawing the Broncbusters within one with no-outs. Calling upon the bullpen again succeeding a one-out walk to load the bases, freshman reliever Landon Haines prevented any further rally attempt notching his first collegiate save recording a strikeout and fly-out in his 0.2-innings escaping the bases loaded jam.
Gomez 3-for-3, 2 RBI and Graves 2-for-3 performances led Barton's 11 hits out of the bottom two spots in the lineup.
Starting pitcher Owen Pote earned a no-decision lasting 3.1-innings allowing two hits, four runs (3-earned) along with four walks.
Andrew McCarthy (2-0) earned the victory behind three-innings permitting three hits, two runs (1-earned) to go with a pair of walks and strikeouts.
Game 2 Recap
Janssen's leadoff double set the tone in the nightcap scoring on the following pitch coming off the bat of Alvord's run producing single gifting Barton a 1-0 lead over the opening two frames.
The Cougars broke things open in the third inning sending 12 to the plate and putting up eight runs. Ayden Hadley's one-out plunking and Connors reaching of a fielder's choice organized Yetter's third big fly of the season to kickstart the big inning.
Loading the bases on a Walker double and back-to-back Tate Blasi and Graves walks, the lone Broncbuster error with two-away extended the frame allowing two to cross with Alvord's two-RBI double and Hadley's team leading sixth triple of the season extending his hitting streak to 13 straight games increasing the lead to 9-0 after three.
Putting the Busters in the headlights, a Gomez bases loaded walk and Janssen bases clearing double sparked a four run fourth with the final runs crossing in the fifth on Walker's RBI single and Blasi's sacrifice-fly.
On the mound Minaker (3-2) turned in a career day, tossing his collegiate first complete game shutout while striking out a new career high eight in picking up his second victory over his last three starts. The sophomore scattered six hits with a pair of walks on 94-pitches in the winning effort.
Yetter's perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate to go along with Walker's 3-for-4 afternoon keyed five Cougars recording multi-hit performances behind the 13 hits while Yetter helped lead the top RBI production teamming up with Janssen and Alvord each finishing with 3-RBIs apiece.