April 27, 2006
Tiger baseball team holds on for 9-7 win at Barton County
Playing at Jayhawk West runner-up Barton County on Wednesday, the Cowley College baseball team built an 8-0 lead and then held off a late Cougar rally to win 9-7.
“Overall, it was a good day,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “We swung the bat very well and pitched very well, but we made the game interesting because of a couple of errors.”
With the Region VI Sub-Regional beginning Saturday, both teams used this game as a chance to get their pitchers some work as Cowley used seven pitchers in the contest and Barton County used six.
Freshman first baseman Jason Sowers continued his torrid hitting as he went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI singles and a run scoring double that put Cowley ahead 5-0 after five innings of play.
In the last three games, Sowers is 10-for-12 with four doubles, nine runs batted in, and five runs scored. Over the last eight games, Sowers is 16-for-28 with seven doubles, 11 runs batted in, and 10 runs scored. He has raised his average to .417.
Cowley added a run in the top of the sixth and two more in the seventh to lead 8-0. However, a dropped by fly ball by centerfielder Blake Mitchell with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, allowed all three runners to come around and score. Michael Dabbs’ RBI single in the top of the eighth made the score 9-3, but the Cougars then struck for three runs on three hits off reliever Kendall Cogan in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 9-6.
Cowley closer Kyle Thornton allowed three of the first four batters he faced to reach base in the bottom of the ninth, and had the tying runs on base when he struck out Anthony Dreiling to end the game.
The save by Thornton was his 16th of the season. Lance Hoge (5-3) started on the mound for the Tigers and allowed one hit and no runs in his two innings of work. Matt Peck followed with two scoreless innings of relief, while J.C Bredengerd and Bryce Bartelson pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning.
Right fielder Nick Troilo went 3-for-5 with a run scored in the leadoff spot as he raised his average to .411. Catcher Pat D’Aoust went 2-for-4 with a run scored and is now batting .393 on the season.
The victory improves Cowley’s record to 34-19 on the season. Barton County falls to 32-20.
Score by inning: R
H E
Cowley 0 1 0 0 4 1 2 1 0 — 9 15 5
Barton 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 1 — 7 8 1
