April 25, 2006                    

Miscues cost Tiger baseball team in 13-12 loss to Seminole

In a game that featured five lead changes, the Cowley College baseball team could not hold onto its final lead as Seminole State rallied to score two runs in the top of the ninth inning and edged Cowley 13-12 Sunday at City Ball Park.

The Tigers rallied from deficits of 4-0, 6-3, and 9-7, but could not overcome their seven errors in the ball game.

“It was a playoff type atmosphere,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “Offensively I was pleased, if we just catch the ball a little better we would have won the game.”

After falling behind 6-3, Cowley got a three-run homer from Ryan McMillan in a four-run third inning to lead 7-6. Seminole answered with three runs of its own in the top of the fourth inning to go back on top 9-7.

The score would then be tied at 9-9 and 11-11 before Cowley went back on top 12-11 on Patrick D’Aoust’s sacrifice fly that scored Ryan Engel in the bottom of the seventh inning. Engel suffered an ankle injury in the contest and his playing status is uncertain for this weekend’s sub-regional against Cloud County.

Clinging to the one-run lead heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Tigers would normally turn the ball over to its closer Kyle Thornton, who has established a school-record 15 saves this season.

However, Thornton was unable to pitch due to illness, thus prompting the Tigers to call on sophomore Kendall Cogan to try and close out the victory.

Cogan (2-2), who had an earned run average of 0.44, allowed just one hit in the ninth, but his fielding error coupled with another error led to two unearned runs for Seminole.

Engel walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth and advanced to third with only one out, but was stranded at third as D’Aoust struck out and Miller grounded out to end the game.

Cowley’s Jason Sowers went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three runs scored and two runs batted in, while Michael Dabbs went 3-for-5 with two doubles, and a run batted in.

“Those two are getting into a little bit more of a comfort zone and are getting more sound mechanically every day,” Burroughs said.

The loss drops the Tigers’ record to 33-19 on the season. Cowley will now prepare to host Cloud County in a best two out of three sub-regional. The first game of the sub-regional will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at City Ball Park. The second game will take place 30 minutes after the completion of game one. If necessary, game three would be played Sunday at 1 p.m.

Cloud County (26-26) finished seventh in the Jayhawk West with a record of 13-19. 

“It’s a new season for everybody,” Burroughs said. “The guys at the bottom have a lot less to lose than the guys at the top, so they will play relaxed. It will be a tough weekend.”

Score by inning:                     R H E
Seminole 2 2 2 3 0 0 2 0 2 — 13 13 3
Cowley   0 3 4 0 2 2 1 0 0 — 12 12 7