Wildcats' duo nails down third league title

Kyle Barbeck and Bret Schwartz have been members of the Blue Springs High School varsity baseball team for the past three years.
The two senior standouts played key roles Thursday in helping the Wildcats claim their third consecutive Suburban Big Seven Conference championship.
Barbeck threw his fifth shutout of the season and Schwartz drove home two runs to lead Blue Springs to a 4-0 home victory over Liberty.
The win gives the Wildcats a 10-2 conference mark, which ties them with Blue Springs South for a share of the league crown. South swept a doubleheader from William Chrisman Thursday to grab a share of the title.
“We all wish it could have been an outright championship, but we’ll share this one,” said Barbeck, who had eight strikeouts in pitching his fifth shutout of the season. “I felt pretty good today, and I need to take Nate (Baker) out for dinner or something, since he saved the shutout.”
The Blue Jays appeared to break up the shutout in the top of the seventh. But Baker, who was playing right field, threw out a Liberty base runner at the plate.
“It was a hard-hit ball right at me,” Baker said. “I actually thought Kyle (Seithel, first baseman) might cut off the throw, but it went through and (catcher Evan) Berndt did a great job blocking the plate. I hope to at least get a free meal out of that throw.”
While Baker and Berndt turned in the defensive gem of the game, Schwartz provided Barbeck with the only real offense he needed.
“We had the 2-0 lead going into the sixth inning, but after what happened at Lee’s Summit North in our last game, we want to score all the runs we can,” said Schwartz, who pitched in that game and saw a 5-1 lead disappear in the bottom of the seventh in a conference game the Wildcats lost 6-5 in eight innings.
“It’s different with Kyle on the mound, because he’s such a great pitcher. When you score one run, you feel like that’s enough. But I know he was happy to get those two extra runs.”
The Wildcats scored their first two unearned runs on a wild pitch and an error.
“We played great defense today,” Blue Springs coach Marc Hines said after his team improved to 19-4 overall. “Liberty kicked the ball around a little bit or it’s an 0-0 game going into the fifth inning.
“We need to get our offense in gear though, heading in districts. We had some early chances, and we didn’t capitalize on them. I know the guys feel safe with a one- or two-run lead and Kyle on the mound, but we have to make the most of every scoring opportunity.”
Barbeck will likely take the mound at 4 p.m. Tuesday, when the Wildcats travel to Rockhurst for Class 4 District 14 district play. Blue Springs plays the Rockhurst-Hickman Mills winner at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“When Bret and I were sophomores, we talked about winning conference and winning state,” Barbeck said. “We won conference all three years and we won state last year.
“This is basically a new team, with so many seniors graduating off last year’s team, but we want to do our best to get back to the final four, and it all starts next Tuesday at Rockhurst.”
Barbeck and Schwartz each had two hits in the win over Liberty.