April 21, 2006                    

Tiger baseball team picks up important sweep of Allen County

Although its hopes for a third straight conference title were dashed with Neosho County’s wins over Independence on Thursday, the Cowley College baseball team got a pair of crucial wins over Allen County Thursday at City Ball Park.

Due to having to forfeit three games for their involvement in a bench clearing melee vs. Coffeyville on April 13, the Tigers entered Thursday’s doubleheader tied with Fort Scott for second place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, and just one game ahead of third place Kansas City. Allen County loomed just two games behind the Tigers in fourth place in the conference.

“I don’t think we played extremely well, but all we asked them to do was win and they did that,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “I think we are emotionally spent, it has been a trying week, so I was proud of our kids to come out and get the wins.”

After scoring 10 or more runs in each of its last six games, Cowley got a pair of strong pitching performances to defeat the Red Devils 3-0 and 6-3.

In the opener, Jeremy Sheehan pitched a four-hit shutout, while striking out eight and walking only one. The win improves Sheehan’s record to 6-2 on the season.

“Sheehan was exceptional on the mound,” Burroughs said.

Sophomore catcher Pat D’Aoust went 2-for-3 with a triple and a run batted in, while Cole Waddell added a RBI single.

In the second game, Cowley got five of its seven hits in a four-run first inning as they jumped out to an early lead and held on to win 6-3.

Tyler Fleming (3-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to notch his third victory of the season. Kent Williamson started on the mound and allowed six hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched. Kyle Thornton struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning of relief as he recorded his 14th save.

D’Aoust and Jason Sowers each had two hits in the win, while Sowers and Brad Miller each drove in a pair of runs. The victories improve the Tigers’ record to 31-18 overall and 22-12 in the Jayhawk East. Allen County falls to 29-19 overall and 18-16 in the conference.

Cowley will need to win one game in its doubleheader at Independence Saturday to clinch second place in the conference. The first game will start at 2 p.m.

“We didn’t start practice in August for second place, but its out of our hands,” Burroughs said. “It’s hard to get something we think is rightfully ours taken away from us, but we might as well go out and get second place.”

The Tigers will come back on Sunday and host one nine-inning game vs. Seminole State at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                    R H E
Allen     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 1
Cowley 0 0 0 2 1 0 x — 3 8 0

Game two                    R H E
Allen     1 0 1 1 0 0 0 — 3 8 4
Cowley 4 1 0 0 1 0 x — 6 7 2