May 19, 2004

Cowley hopes to get back to College World Series

Having played in seven of the last nine Region VI championship games, the Cowley County Community College baseball team is hoping to get another shot at qualifying for the NJCAA World Series when it takes part in the Region VI Tournament which begins Thursday at Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

The Tigers recently captured their ninth Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division title in the last 10 years, and have a record of 39-17 after winning their sub-regional against Dodge City last weekend.

Cowley, the East’s No. 1 seed, will open the tournament against West No. 4 seed Garden City. The Broncbusters, 34-20 on the season, advanced to Wichita by defeating Independence in their sub-regional. The game will be played Thursday at 8 p.m.

“Nothing happens until after we play that game, so there is really no reason to look at the bracket past that game,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “We expect Garden City to have a good club, but if our guys play to their capabilities, we will be fine.”

This marks the first year that the Region VI Tournament is being played at Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

“It’s going to be an interesting format,” Burroughs said. “We get to play in a nice venue for the right to go to the national tournament, which is always fun.”

Last year, the Tigers lost to Neosho County in the Region VI Championship game. The last time Cowley advanced to the NJCAA World Series was 2001 when it finished third in the nation. The Tigers won national titles the only other times they won the Region VI tournament, in 1997 and 1998.

Cowley is led by a pitching staff that posted the lowest earned run average in the Jayhawk Conference. Sophomore Josh Wahpepah (11-1, 1.24 ERA), the Jayhawk East’s Most Valuable Player, and Dustin Richardson (8-3, 2.04 ERA) anchor the starting staff, while Matt VanDeelen (2.10 ERA) and Trey Randa (2.83 ERA) have been two of the most consistent pitchers out of the Tiger bullpen.

The Tigers have eight players batting over .300 on the season. Designated hitter Deik Scram leads Cowley with a .363 batting average, while first baseman Brian Freeman has hit a team-high seven home runs. Left fielder Dwayne White and catcher Clay Blevins are tied for the team lead with 43 runs batted in.

Garden City is led by sophomore first baseman Brandon Buckman, who is batting .460 with 13 home runs and 63 runs batted in. Luke Dreiling (.368 average, eight home runs, 44 RBI), and Luke Gorsett (.314 average, 12 home runs, 43 RBI) also are dangerous hitters in a lineup that averages 7.34 runs per game.

The Broncbusters sport a team ERA of 4.71. Sophomore right hander Justin Wilson leads the staff with a record of 8-3 and an ERA of 3.90.

Garden City has won 12 of its last 15 games heading into the Region VI Tournament. However, Cowley has won five games in a row, and has gone 16-5 in its last 21 games.

“If we perform like we can, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to win,” Burroughs said. “In tournament play where you play games on back-to-back days, it’s usually the team that swings the bat the best that will be around at the end. Our pitchers have got to slow guys down, and we have got to be able to throw some runs up.”

A Cowley win on Thursday and the Tigers will be playing Friday at 5 p.m. A Cowley loss and the Tigers will be playing Friday at 2 p.m. If Cowley wins its first two games of the tournament, it will play Saturday at 5 p.m.. If the Tigers win just one of their first two games, they will play Saturday at 2 p.m. If Cowley suffers a loss prior to Sunday's championship game at 3 p.m., it would have to play Sunday at noon to try and advance to the title game.

Ticket prices for the Region VI Tournament are $24 for a tournament pass, $7 per day for adults, $6 per day for children ages 4-12, and children three and under are admitted free.

Cowley’s games can be heard on KSOK 95.9 FM.