May 3, 2004

Cowley baseball has magic number for clinching Jayhawk East reduced to one

Splitting a doubleheader against Johnson County at home Sunday, the Cowley County Community College baseball team had its magic number for clinching the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division title reduced to one.

The Tigers got a solid start from Adam Henry in the first game of the doubleheader as they won game one 4-3. Henry (5-3) allowed six hits and three runs in five innings as he earned his fifth win of the season.

Chad Ogden and Matt Webb each had two hits and scored a run in the victory, and Matt VanDeelen pitched two innings of scoreless relief to notch his second save of the season.

In the nightcap, Cowley trailed just 3-1 after five innings of play, but the Cavaliers erupted for seven runs in the sixth inning and pulled away for an 11-2 win.

Dustin Richardson (6-3) allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings as he was saddled with the loss. Richardson struck out nine, but also walked five in the defeat. Cowley then used four pitchers to get three outs in the seven-run sixth inning.

Brian Freeman was the only Tiger to have at least two hits in the defeat as he went 2-4 with a double and a single.

Cowley is now 33-16 overall and 25-9 in the Jayhawk East. The Tigers hold a three-game lead over Neosho (20-10) heading into the final week of the conference season. Cowley will host Rose State in a single game Tuesday at 6 p.m., and will then play a doubleheader at Northern Oklahoma College (Tonkawa) Thursday at 5 p.m., before wrapping up the regular season by playing Fort Scott in its final conference games Saturday at 1 p.m.

Because of earlier rainouts, Neosho will play six conference games this week. Johnson County is now 17-17 in the Jayhawk East and 26-23 overall.