Cowley baseball improves to 7-1 in Jayhawk East

Getting a pair of strong pitching performances, the No. 10-ranked Cowley College baseball team swept a doubleheader at Labette on Saturday.

The Tigers won both games by scores of 5-2 and are now 9-9 overall and 7-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

In game one, the Tigers took advantage of some Cardinal miscues. Cowley’s Chase Roten led off the game with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout by Travis Carney.

Cowley would score two more runs in the top of the fourth inning thanks to three errors by the Cardinals. After Labette scored two runs in the fifth inning to cut Cowley’s lead to 3-2, two walks and a hit batter allowed the Tigers to score two more runs in the sixth inning. Andy Petz had an RBI single in the inning.

Stephen Kohlscheen (2-1) picked up the win as he allowed three hits and one earned run in five innings pitched. Alex Schell relieved Kohlscheen (pictured) on the mound and allowed two hits and no earned runs in picking up his second save of the season.

Roten had a big game at the plate as he had four of the Tigers’ seven hits.

In game two, Cowley starting pitcher Calvin Drinnen overcame a rocky first inning to strike out 12 and improve his record to 2-1 on the season.

Labette got to Drinnen for a pair of runs in the first inning, but were unable to score again the rest of the game. Drinnen allowed just six hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched. Zach Potter relieved Drinnen with a pair of runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning, and recorded the final two outs to earn his first save of the season.

Cowley scored three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the sixth as they made the most of its eight hits in the game. Heath Wall went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a RBI, while Brice Cole added a pair of hits.

Cowley will play another road doubleheader on Tuesday when they play at Allen County at 2 p.m.