March 1, 2006

Tigers avenge earlier defeat to Hutchinson

Six days after losing at Hutchinson by a score of 5-2, the Cowley College baseball team turned the tables on the Blue Dragons Tuesday at City Ball Park as they won 5-2.

As was the case in the first game between the teams, hits and runs were hard to come by. Each team had only six hits in the nine-inning game despite nine pitchers being used in the contest. The loss was Hutchinson’s first of the season after winning its first seven games.

“I thought we competed really well as a team,” Cowley assistant coach Darren Burroughs said. “We made some big plays when we needed to.”

After falling behind 1-0 on a RBI double by Hutchinson first baseman Balin Bergman in the top of the third inning, Cowley answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Two Blue Dragon errors and three Tiger hits led to Cowley’s three-runs in the third. Freshman Zack Berg led off with a single, reached second on a fielding error by Hutchinson pitcher Sean Peery (0-1), advanced to third on a bunt single by Nick Troilo, and came around to score on Brett Becker’s sacrifice fly.

Blake Mitchell, who reached on the error by Peery, would score on a fielding error on the Hutchinson third baseman, and Troilo scored the final run of the inning on a run scoring single by sophomore catcher Patrick D’Aoust.

Tiger sophomore Jeremy Sheehan (4-0) started on the mound and allowed two runs, one earned, and five hits in four innings pitched. Sheehan allowed a RBI single to Brandon Doherty in the top of the fourth to cut Cowley’s lead to 3-2, but three Tiger relievers combined to one-hit Hutchinson over the game’s final five innings of play.

Cowley tacked on an insurance run on Troilo’s RBI single in the fourth, and completed the scoring in the fifth as D’Aoust walked with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out by Brent Hodge, and scored on another wild pitch by Blue Dragon reliever Thad Weber.

Sheehan picked up the win, as he remains perfect on the season with a record of 4-0.

“I was very happy with Jeremy and the way he handled some adversity out there on the mound,” Burroughs said. “He has become very mature mentally.”

Freshman Kent Williamson relieved Sheehan and pitched three hitless innings of relief, while J.C. Bredengerd tossed a scoreless eighth, and Kyle Thornton closed out the game by recording his fourth save of the season.

“Those guys all came in and did a nice job for us,” Burroughs said.

Troilo and Berg led the Tigers at the plate as they each had two hits in the win. The victory improves Cowley’s record to 4-4 on the season. Cowley will be back in action Thursday when they host a doubleheader against Maple Woods beginning at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Hutchinson 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 6 3
Cowley       0 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 x — 5 6 2