April 17, 2006                    

Tiger baseball team puts it all together in wins over Kansas City

Continuing its recent hot streak at the plate, the Cowley College baseball team recorded a pair of run-rule wins over Kansas City Saturday at City Ball Park, and regained sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

The Tigers needed just five innings to win both games as they pounded out 26 hits in the doubleheader. Cowley won the first game 11-1, and capped a 15-5 win in game two with back-to-back home runs by Patrick D’Aoust and Michael Dabbs.

Following Tuesday’s doubleheader loss at Highland, Cowley found themselves two games behind Neosho County in the conference standings. However, the Tigers have scored 10 or more runs in four consecutive wins, while Neosho has dropped four of six to fall two games behind the Tigers with six games left to play.

“We had to have a little help, but now that we got it, the ball is in our corner,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “I could not be more proud of our guys.”

In the first game, Nick Troilo continued his solid freshman campaign by going 4-for-4 at the plate. Jason Sowers and Michael Dabbs added two hits a piece, while Matt Peck (6-1) battled windy conditions to limit Kansas City to three hits in five innings.

“I am tickled with the way Peck pitched in not easy conditions,” Burroughs said.

Cowley jumped on Kansas City early in game two, as they struck for eight runs in the first inning. The Blue Devils got within 9-5, but the Tigers answered with six consecutive runs to end the threat.

Cowley got homers from Dabbs, Mitch McCuistion, and Ryan McMillan. The Tigers also got a pair of home runs from D’Aoust as they blasted five home runs in the nightcap.

After hitting just one home run as a freshman, D’Aoust leads the Tigers with eight home runs.
“It has been absolutely unbelievable what he has done,” Burroughs said. “He has pretty much said hop on, and the young guys have started to get behind him.”

Dabbs, McCuistion and Brad Miller each finished with three hits as Cowley had 15 hits in game two. D’Aoust feels like the Tigers are starting to turn the corner.

“We have got something going on here and are starting to come together as a team,” D’Aoust said. “If we play our game this is what will happen.”

Tyler Fleming (2-0) picked up the win in relief of Justin Otto as he did not allow a run in 2 2/3 innings pitched.

Cowley is now 30-15 overall and 21-9 in the Jayhawk East. The Tigers will be back in action Tuesday when they play a doubleheader at Johnson County at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                      R H E
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 3 7
Cowley        2 4 0 1 4 — 11 11 1

Game two                      R H E
Kansas City 0 2 3 0 0 — 5 6 3
Cowley        8 1 4 2 2 — 15 15 2