Feb. 11, 2004

Tiger baseball team lands pitcher from Oxford

With four of its top five starting pitchers being sophomores, the Cowley County Community College baseball team landed some help for next year with the recent signing of Oxford High School pitcher Bryce Bartelson.

The 6-foot-3 right-hander won all six of his starts as a junior and finished with an earned run average of 0.62 as he helped the Wildcats to a runner-up finish at the Class 2-1A State Tournament.

"We are extremely excited to have him," Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. "We think his best days are ahead of him. He's got good arm strength, and he's a good athlete. We think he has got a chance to be pretty successful here."

Oxford head coach Romney Runyan has enjoyed working with Bartelson, and said the senior has a great work ethic, which has led to him gaining nearly 20 pounds from last season.

"I think he will be an asset to the coaching staff at Cowley," Runyan said. "He's a very confident kid that has command of three pitches. He will be a good fit for them."