Big Innings Highlight Seward-Barton Double Header

Crooked numbers ruled Saturday afternoon as the Seward County Saints and Barton Cougars hooked it up in Jayhawk West Conference Baseball action. The Saints used a six run 3rd in game one to come away with an 11-1 win while Barton put up a nine spot in the 5th of game two to rout Seward 17-12 for the split.

Game one began how many Seward game ones have begun this season, with three straight strikeouts, as ace Jakob Hernandez fanned the Cougars in the 1st to extend upon his NJCAA strikeout lead.

Hernandez struck out two more in the 2nd and the first man of the top half of the 3rd to notch punchouts against six of the first seven Cougar hitters of the game. But Hernandez lost his aim later in the 3rd, walking two and giving up a pair of singles to allow Barton to plate a run and take a 1-0 lead after 2 ½.

The Saints finally got their sticks going in the bottom of the inning, getting three singles and a pair of sacrifice flies to plate two and take a 2-1 lead. With two outs, Seward kept swinging, getting two run singles from Chad Kennedy and Errett Edwards to push their lead to 6-1 at innings end.

Seward extended their lead in the 4th, getting an RBI double from Justin Graff-Rowe and a run scoring single from catcher Josh Nicol behind that to stretch their advantage to 8-1 after four.

Barton couldn’t put a ball between the lines in the 5th as Hernandez locked in once again, getting a foul pop up and a pair of strikeouts to keep the score 8-1 in favor of the Saints.

An RBI double from Antonio Dorado tacked on a run in the 5th to make it 9-1 and after Hernandez hung another zero, Kennedy put the game in the books with a two run shot over the left field wall in the 6th to give the Saints an 11-1 run rule win.

Once again Hernandez stole the show Saturday, going the distance, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out 12 more hitters to extend upon his all-time Seward County record in the category. The Saints offense pounded out 12 hits, getting multi-hit games from five different players including Kennedy who finished an impressive 2 for 4 with a home run and four RBI’s in the win.

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME ONE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/boxscores/20160423_4s39.xml>

As they did in game one, the Cougars jumped ahead early on once again in game two, getting a 1st inning run to grab a 1-0 lead on the Saints.

The Saints answered right back, needing just two batters in the bottom of the 1st to tie the score on a double from Graff-Rowe and an RBI single from Judah Sweat to make it 1-1. Later in the inning Dorado smacked an RBI single through the left side and after one it was Seward 2 and Barton 1.

The Saints gave the Cougars a pair of free passes in the 2nd and Barton cashed in on both, scoring twice to retake the lead 3-2.

Barton scored for the third straight inning in the 3rd to extend their lead to 4-2 and then blew the game open in the 5th, getting into a shaky Seward bullpen to score nine times and open up a 13-2 advantage.

The Saints got runs back on RBI hits from Dylan Paul and Edwards to make it 13-4 and it looked like the inning was over after a ground ball to second base, but a Barton error extended the frame and chaos ensued. The Cougars would make errors on the next three plays as well, getting the Saints all the way back to within six at 13-7 before another run scored on a wild pitch to make it 13-8 Cougars after five.

Three straight Barton singles in the 6th pushed their lead back to six at 14-8 and a three run shot by the Cougars in the 7th sent the game to stretch time with the score 17-8.

Seward got a run back on a blooper in the 7th to make it 17-9 and that’s where the score remained to the 9th when the Saints got a three run home run from Sweat to give them a glimmer of hope, but they could get nothing more, falling 17-12 to split the twinbill with the Cougs.

The game featured 31 hits, 29 runs, and nine errors. The Saints actually outhit the Cougars 16-15, getting a big offensive performance from Sweat who finished 3-6 with a home run and four RBI’s. Seward’s bullpen again struggled as the Saints first two relievers allowed eight hits and nine runs in just 2 1/3 innings before Pierce Edwards came in to stop the bleeding with 2 2/3 scoreless to close things out. Jared Biddy took his second straight loss on the mound, allowing seven hits and seven earned runs in four innings to fall to 5-2 on the year.

SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON GAME TWO BOX SCORE <http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/bsb/2015-16/boxscores/20160423_m8m6.xml>

The game two win for Barton snaps a 13 game win streak for Seward at Brent Gould Field in Liberal. The Saints now sit at 26-21 overall on the year and 15-11 in Jayhawk West play where they now need two wins Sunday against the Cougars to put themselves back in the upper tier of the conference standings. Barton also goes to 26-21 on the year, seeing their Jayhawk West mark move to 12-14 where they sit 6th, where they are three games behind Seward and four games in front of 7th place Pratt.

The Saints and Cougars will finish the series Sunday at Brent Gould with a doubleheader scheduled for a 1:00 start.