March 27, 2009

Errors prove costly in baseball team’s split with Johnson County

Committing seven errors in the first game of its doubleheader against Johnson County Thursday in Arkansas City, the Cowley College baseball team suffered a 2-0 loss. The Tigers bounced back to win the nightcap 7-2 and earn a split of the two games.

The split leaves both teams tied for first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Cowley is now 19-9 overall and 10-4 in the conference, while Johnson County is 22-5 overall and 8-2 in conference play.

Luke Zeller (0-1) made his first start on the mound and allowed just one hit and no earned runs in three innings pitched. He left the game after two unearned runs scored in the top of the third inning. The Cavaliers scored the runs thanks to three Tiger errors in the inning.

Caleb Bass pitched four hitless innings of relief as the Tigers held Johnson County to one-hit. Bass struck out four and walked one.

However, Cowley managed just four hits and left three runners in scoring position.

“I don’t think we could have asked for any more out of our pitchers, they gave us a chance to win,” Cowley assistant coach Darren Burroughs said. “If we our going to have trouble hitting we have got to play better defense.”

In the second game, Cowley got a complete game on the mound from Alex Schell in a 7-2 win. Schell (2-1) allowed just five hits and two runs, while striking out four and walking one. He lowered his earned run average to 2.33 on the season.

“Alex continues to do really well and control the (strike) zone,” Burroughs said.

Cowley gave Schell an early lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Cavaliers cut Cowley’s lead to 4-2 with a run in the second and one run in the top of the sixth inning. The Tigers answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth as they got a run scoring single by Ryan Hege and a two-run single by B.J. Misialek.

Hege, Colt Loehrs and Ronald Melendez each had two hits in the win. Melendez leads the Tigers with a .378 batting average.

Cowley’s doubleheader at Coffeyville on Saturday has moved to Sunday due to the weather. Sunday’s doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m.