GREAT BEND, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team dropped a doubleheader to Barton Community College Sunday in Great Bend, Kansas.

                The first game saw the Cougars outhit Barton, but Barton scored three, fifth-inning runs and held on for the 7-5 win. The second game saw WNCC get behind the 8-ball early before a late rally fell short 8-5.

                WNCC and Barton will face each other in another doubleheader on Monday in Kansas.

                The first game saw Barton jump to a 3-0 lead. WNCC came back with one in the fourth and four in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. The fourth inning saw Tyler Easter get a double followed by a single by Ashton Ross. Easter scored on an Alex Ainsworth sacrifice fly.

                The fifth saw WNCC string together five straight hits, all beginning with a single by Dylan Harris. Shintaro Inoue followed with another single and then Bryce Peterson singled home the first run. WNCC then loaded the bases and Ross scored two with a double. The fourth run came in on a bases-loaded walk for the Cougar lead.

                Barton came back with three in the bottom of the fifth to grab the 7-5 lead.

                WNCC outhit Barton 10-9. Ross and Easter each had two hits with a double. Ross had two RBIs while Easter scored two runs.

                The second game saw Barton score five times in the first inning and a single run in the fourth for a 6-0 lead.

                WNCC managed a comeback with a single run in the fifth as WNCC had three straight walks and Ryan Platt scored on a sacrifice fly.

                WNCC had three runs in the sixth inning as Caleb Caciari singled and Hunter McCollum was hit by a pitch. Caciari scores on an error while McCollum scores on a Platt single. Asahi Nakano scored on a Arturo Montiel single for come within 6-4.

                WNCC added another run in the seventh as McCollum smacked a solo home run. Barton added two insurance runs in the eighth for the final 8-5 margin.

                Both teams had six hits in the contest. Montiel had two hits with a double, while McCollum had two runs scored with a home run.

Game 1
WNCC                 000 140 0 – 5 10 0
Barton                  021 130 x – 7 9 0
LP – Hunter McCollum.
2B – Ashton Ross, Tyler Easter.

Game 2
WNCC                 000 013 100 – 5 6 1
Barton                  500 100 02x – 8 6 2
LP – Adrian Short.
2B – Arturo Montiel, Shintaro Inoue.
HR – Hunter McCollum.