March 29, 2006                    

Tiger baseball team remains tough to beat at home

Coming off a pair of doubleheader splits on the road, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College baseball team returned home with a bang as they swept a doubleheader from Johnson County by scores of 7-2 and 11-1 Tuesday at City Ball Park.

The wins improve Cowley’s record to 10-1 at City Ball Park. Cowley is now 19-8 overall and 10-2 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

“We take pride in playing well at home,” Cowley assistant coach Brock Buckingham said. “Our guys don’t want to lose here.”

The victories over Johnson County were big for the Tigers as Neosho County lost both games of its doubleheader at Highland Tuesday and is now two games behind Cowley in the Jayhawk East standings.

“It was a big day for our squad with Neosho losing two,” Buckingham said. “We are starting to play pretty good, and have a big week ahead of us.”

In game one, Cowley rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to win 7-2. The Tigers tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the third inning, and grabbed the lead with three runs in the fifth. Blake Mitchell’s two-run triple in the seventh capped the win.

Brad Miller pitched his second complete game of the season and improved his record to 3-0. Miller allowed six hits and two runs, while striking out six and walking two.

Mitchell went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, while Zach Berg added two hits and two runs scored as Cowley finished with 10 hits in the win.

In game two, Johnson County again scored first as they scored an unearned run off Tiger starter Lance Hoge in the top of the first inning. However, Cowley scored five runs off Johnson County starting pitcher Peter Davenport in the bottom of the second inning, and chased Davenport from the game by scoring two more runs in the third.

Cowley scored three runs off Cavalier reliever Chris Skuban in the fourth inning as right fielder Michael Dabbs belted his second two-run double of the game, and designated hitter Jason Sowers added a run scoring single.

The Tigers would end the game on a run-rule thanks to Patrick D’Aoust’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Hoge (3-1) continued his solid pitching as he allowed just three hits and no earned runs in five innings pitched. Hoge lowered his earned run average to 1.50 as he struck out five and walked three.

“He has been outstanding all year,” Buckingham said. “We definitely have a good chance at winning when Lance or Brad is pitching.”

Dabbs, who leads the team in RBI’s with 27, went 2-for-2 with two doubles and four runs batted in. Third baseman Mitch McCuistion reached base all three times as he went 2-for-2 with a walk.

The losses drop Johnson County’s record to 9-14 overall and 4-6 in the Jayhawk East.

The Tigers will play a doubleheader at Allen County Thursday at 3 p.m. Cowley will then host Fort Scott in a doubleheader on Saturday, and Highland in a doubleheader on Sunday. Both home doubleheaders will start at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                       R H E
Johnson 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 — 2 6 3
Cowley  0 0 2 0 3 2 0 — 7 10 3

Game two                 R H E
Johnson 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 3 0
Cowley  0 5 2 3 1 — 11 8 2