Johnson County rallies to nip Tigers 7-6

A pair of errors allowed Johnson County to score three runs in the top of the ninth inning as the Cavaliers rallied to beat Cowley College 7-6 Monday night at the Region VI Baseball Tournament played at Wichita's Lawrence Dumont Stadium.

For the second straight night the Tigers allowed its opponent to score three times in the ninth, this time it would cost them.

Johnson County reliever Jacob Smith retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the ninth to record the win. Alex Schell was charged with the loss.

The Cavaliers have won 10 in a row and 19 of its past 21 games as they advance to Tuesday’s championship game. Cowley will play Kansas City today at 4 p.m. as the Blue Devils eliminated Seward County from the tournament with a 9-7 win on Monday night. If the Tigers defeat Kansas City they will face Johnson County at 7 p.m. in the championship round, a win over the Cavaliers would force a final game to be played Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a berth to the JUCO World Series on the line.

After Johnson County tied the game at 4-4 with a pair of runs in the eighth inning, Brice Cole continued his terrific series by drilling a one-out basehit to get things going in the bottom of the eighth. Chase Roten then followed with a drive to centerfield that was dropped by Johnson County’s Parker Amos for a two-base error.

This brought up Tom O’Gorman, who won Sunday night’s game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. This time O’Gorman would line a single between the third baseman and shortstop to score Cole and Roten as the Tigers went back on top 6-4.

O’Gorman went 2-for-5 with three RBI’s and has driven in seven runs in the first three games of the tourney.

The two errors by the Tigers in the ninth preceded a wild pitch by Connor Farris that scored Jeremy Francis with what turned out to be the winning run.

Failing to score with nobody out and runners at second and third base in the first inning, and nobody out and the bases loaded in the fifth inning, the Tigers missed out on chances to increase their lead. Cowley also had the first two batters reach base to start the bottom of the sixth, but could not plate a run.

Cowley starter Curt Simpson cruised through the first five innings allowing just three hits and one unearned run. Simpson surrendered a solo home run to the Cavaliers’ John Lenherr leading off the sixth inning. He then allowed back-to-back one-out hits to put runners at second and third with one out. However, Simpson avoided further damage by striking out Nate Thomas and getting Chad Griffin to fly out to end the inning.

Simpson retired Drew Garwood to start the seventh inning, but then walked the next two batters. O’Brien then relieved Simpson on the mound and promptly allowed a RBI single to John Lenherr, who hit a solo homer in the sixth.

A groundout by Jayhawk East Most Valuable Player Doug Otto scored Mitchell Mathis with the tying run. Simpson was charged with six hits and three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched.

O’Brien walked the Cavaliers’ Jeremy Francis leading off the top of the eighth inning and was relieved on the mound by Schell, who walked Nate Thomas to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Chad Griffin’s sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with one out. Garwood then hit a grounder to O’Gorman, who made a nice play at third to get the out at first and keep the run from scoring. Schell then struck out David Drahozel to end the threat.

In the ninth, Mitchel Mathis reached on an error by Tiger shortstop Heath Wall to start the inning. After Schell struck out Lenherr for the first out, Otto singed and stole second. Parker Amos followed with his fourth hit of the game, a two-run single to tie the game at 6-6. After an out at home plate on a safety squeeze bunt, Farris' wild pitch scored Francis, who reached base on an error by O'Gorman at third.

The only run Johnson County scored in the game’s first five innings crossed the plate thanks to two errors, which occurred on the same play. Right after Cowley had a run taken off the scoreboard when Heath Wall did not touch third base while attempting to score from second base on a single by Tyson Parks, Johnson County’s Chad Griffin then led off the top of the third inning by grounding a single into left field. Tiger leftfielder Brice Cole’s throw back into the infield skipped past Parks at first base and went into right field, where Colt Loehrs’ throw to the infield hopped past Tiger third baseman Tom O’Gorman and into the Tiger dugout, scoring Griffin.

The Tigers chased Johnson County starting pitcher Dustin Holthaus from the game after just four innings as he allowed 11 hits and four runs. Colt Loehrs homered in the second inning to put the Tigers ahead 1-0. Heath Wall had a RBI single in the fourth to score Andy Petz. Loehrs scored from first on the play as centerfielder Parker Amos misplayed the ball in the outfield, putting Cowley ahead 3-1.

Cowley’s lead grew to 4-1 on O’Gorman’s RBI single in the fifth inning.

Loehrs went 3-for-5, while Wall, Parks, Petz, and Roten each had two hits apiece.