April 22, 2004

Tigersâ win streak comes to an end with split at Allen County

IOLA — Scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, the host Allen County Community College Red Devils ended the Cowley County Community College baseball team’s six-game winning streak Wednesday in Iola.

After losing the first game 4-3, Cowley fought back to win game two 9-4.

In the opener, Cowley scored two runs in the top of the first, but Allen County answered back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Tiger starting pitcher Trace Larman failed to make it out of the first inning as he was relieved by Trey Randa after recording just one out.

Randa came in and tossed 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to keep Cowley within a run of the Red Devils. The score remained 3-2 in favor of Allen County until the top of the seventh, when the Tigers scratched across a run on an RBI single by Hunter Harrigan to tie the game at 3-3.

Matt VanDeelen (3-3), who pitched a scoreless sixth inning in relief of Randa, stayed in to pitch the seventh. Allen County benefited from a Tiger error to score an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh, and won 4-3.

With staff ace Josh Wahpepah starting the second game, Cowley fell behind 4-0 when Allen County struck for four runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Cowley started its comeback by scoring one run in the fourth, two in the fifth, and six runs in the sixth inning. Dwayne White’s grand slam and Brian Freeman’s two-run homer highlighted the come-from-behind win. The home run for White was his third of the season, while Freeman’s homer was his fifth of the year.

Wahpepah (6-1) went the distance on the mound, allowing only two earned runs and four hits en route to picking up his team-high sixth win of the season. Wahpepah struck out four and walked six in the victory.

The two teams split a previous doubleheader on March 30 as well. The split of the two games makes Allen County 17-24 overall and 13-13 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Cowley, now 29-13 overall, remains three games ahead of Neosho (16-8) for first place in the Jayhawk East with a record of 21-7.

The Tigers will play a doubleheader at Highland Community College today at 1 p.m. The Scotties are tied with Kansas City for third place in the Jayhawk East with a record of 13-11.