By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
The No. 17 Barton Community College baseball team's hopes of closing in on its 12th conference title were disrupted Thursday afternoon at Cavalier Field dropping both ends of the doubleheader at Dodge City Community College.
A five-run fifth inning provided too many obstacles in the opener as the Conquistadors won 8-4, snapping the Cougars' program best 19-game winning streak.
In the nightcap, a five-run lead would not be enough as Dodge City outscored Barton 8-2 over the final inning and half capping the 9-8 comeback on a walk-off grand slam.
The losses bring Barton back into a first-place tie with Cloud County in the conference standings at 24-6 and 37-10 overall while Dodge City moves to 12-14 in league play and 28-20 on the season.
Still controlling its destiny in the title chase, Barton will look to clinch at least a share of the title with a pair of wins in Saturday's conference finale doubleheader with Dodge City in a 1:00 p.m. first-pitch from Lawson-Biggs Field.
Barton was outhit on the afternoon 23-15, with five of the Conquistador hits coming on the long ball including the game-winning grand slam in the nightcap.
Game 1 Recap
Barton got off to a strong start plating a run in the opening two frames, but the Cougar offense would be held in check with just two runs coming over the final five innings.
Tyler Janssen's leadoff plunking accounted for the first tally scoring off John Connors' two-out single for a 1-0 first-inning lead.
Making his return to Cavalier Field, Tate Blasi increased the lead to 2-0 in the second with a one-out solo shot for his eighth blast of the season.
Held to just a single through two-innings, the Conquistador offense quickly claimed the lead in the third sending eight to the plate benefitting off a leadoff plunking, walk and trio of singles generating a three-run frame and 3-2 advantage.
The Cougars evened things at 3-all in the top of the fourth as Blasi's two-out single ignited a two-out rally scoring on Kyle Graves RBI triple.
Wyatt Yetter's 2-out fifth inning fence clearer for his seventh home run of the season pushed Barton back out front for the final time at 4-3.
A leadoff error along with five hits produced keyed the decisive five run home half, the big blows coming on a three-run home run and two-run shot for an 8-4 Conquistador lead.
Anthony Treto (4-3) took the loss working 4.1-innings after yielding seven hits, seven runs (five-earned) with a walk. Landon Haines handled 1.1-innings with one run allowed off three hits while Jackson MacWilliams managed the final out of the sixth with a pickoff at second base for his 0.1-innings.
Blasi led Barton's only multi-hit performance finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI coming off his eighth home run of the season.
Game 2 Recap
Similar to the opener, Barton jetted out to a quick 2-0 start behind Hunter Alvord and Ayden Hadley leadoff singles both scoring from Connors sacrifice fly and Yetter's groundout, but lighting struck again in the later stages.
Locked in a pitcher's duel with no-runs scored over the next three innings, the Conquistadors broke through on the scoreboard in the fifth as a trio of singles cut the margin to 2-1.
The advantage lengthened to 4-1 in the seventh as Janssen's two-out walk followed with Alvord's single both came in from Conquistadors' wild pitch and passed ball.
With both starting pitchers out entering the eighth, the offenses rapidly heated up combining for 12 runs over the final two-innings and Cougars outscored 8-4.
Pounding out four extra base hits in the opener, Connors leadoff triple to start the eighth would be the lone extra base knock for the Cougars in the nightcap scoring on Kyle Walker's single. Graves sacrifice bunt following brought in Blasi's one-out walk, pushing Barton's lead to 6-1.
The advantage quickly faded back to one in the home eighth when Dodge City struck for four tallies all coming on two-outs. A hit batsman initiated the first two-run home run and error succeeding fueling to the second two-run shot in the frame.
Yetter's two-out two-RBI single in the ninth brought the Cougars to a three run 8-5 lead, scoring Janssen's leadoff and Hadley's one-out plunking's.
A pair of unfortunate infield comebackers helped Dodge City load the bases all off singles with the blow coming on a two-out walk-off grand slam.
Preston Golden (1-1) took the loss in relief handling one-inning scattering four runs off four hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Reigning Jayhawk West Pitcher of the Week Braden Hauschel earned a no-decision behind 5.2-innings of work. The freshman allowed seven hits for one run and struck out seven.
Alvord and Walker contributed with four of the eight hits in the nightcap each producing two-hits apiece.
Yetter keyed the run production with three-RBIs.