March 19, 2004

Tiger baseball team sweeps doubleheader at Labette

PARSONS -- Continuing to get strong outings from its pitching staff, the Cowley County Community College baseball team swept a doubleheader at Labette Thursday to improve to 4-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Dustin Richardson (3-1) tossed the Tigers' first complete game of the season in the opener as he allowed just seven hits and one run in picking up his third win of the season.

The sophomore left-hander hit four batters in the game's first three innings, but settled down to throw just 97 pitches in the 4-1 win of the opener.

"He really wasn't in sync until the fourth inning," Cowley assistant coach Dave Burroughs said. "But the further he went, the better he got."

Cowley scored three of its four runs in the first inning, and scored its final run in the top of the seventh. Deik Scram continues to swing a hot bat as he went 2-4 with a double and two runs batted in, while Chase Ohme went 2-3 with a RBI.

In the nightcap, sophomore right-hander Trey Randa (2-1) had his longest outing as a Tiger as he allowed just one hit and no runs in five innings.

Cowley led 4-0 after five innings, and then blew the game open with four runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to complete the 11-0 win.

Travis Kliewer allowed no hits and just one walk in two scoreless innings of relief for the Tigers, who improved to 12-6 overall.

"Trey and Travis did a good job of throwing strikes," Burroughs said.

Brandon Harrigan broke out of a hitting slump to go 2-4 with a home run and two runs scored. Chad Ogden and Clay Blevins added two hits and two RBI a piece, and Scram again went 2-4 with a double and a RBI as Cowley pounded out 12 hits.

Scram is now batting .390 on the season.

"Deik just does a lot of things right at the plate, and takes what they give him," Burroughs said. "Our whole team is starting to get a little bit better at the plate."

The losses drop Labette's record to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will now prepare for a doubleheader at Johnson County Sunday at 1 p.m. The Cavaliers are currently 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk East.

"Johnson County has good speed, so the way to combat that is to keep them off the bases," Burroughs said.