April 10, 2009

Tiger baseball runs win streak to nine games

Needing only five innings to beat Fort Scott 19-3 in the opening game of a doubleheader played Thursday in Fort Scott, the Cowley College baseball team was pushed to the limit in game two. The Tigers rallied to send the second game into extra innings, where they would come away victorious 8-5.

Cowley has now won nine games in a row and improves to 27-9 overall and 18-4 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers have outscored their opponent 82-22 during their winning streak.

In game one, Cowley scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back as they crushed Fort Scott 19-3. The Tigers pounded out 14 hits and got home runs from Colt Loehrs, Frank Specht and Tyler Hancock. Loehrs finished 4-for-5 with three runs batted, while Ronald Melendez and Caleb Bass each went 3-for-4 with a RBI.

Zach Cargill improved to 5-0 on the season as he allowed three hits and three runs in five innings pitched. Cargill struck out five and walked two.

In game two, Cowley scored four runs on four hits in the top of the third inning as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. B.J. Misialek’s two-run homer highlighted the four-run inning. However, Fort Scott answered with three runs in the bottom of the third inning and tied the game with a run in the bottom of the fourth.

The Greyhounds chased Tiger starting pitcher Caleb Bass from the game with one out in the fourth. Bass allowed six hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Harrison Mendez relieved Bass on the mound and pitched into the sixth inning. After allowing a leadoff single to start the bottom of the sixth inning, Mendez was relieved on the mound by Chase Webb, who would allow the inherited runner to score as Fort Scott went on top 5-4.

Down to its final out, Andy Petz came through with a clutch two-out double that scored Loehrs with the tying run. Webb would then pitch a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

The game would remain scoreless until the top of the ninth when Misialek led off the inning with his second homer of the game. Mac Gordon would later triple in Loehrs for the second run of the inning, and Gordon would score the final run on a wild pitch.

Webb finished off a stellar four-inning relief stint by retiring the final 11 batters he faced. Webb struck out seven and walked none, while improving to 3-1 on the season.

Misialek’s two homer game was his second in the last six games as he now has five home runs on the season. Chance Ross added a pair of hits in the victory.

Fort Scott falls to 18-17 overall and 11-11 in the Jayhawk East. Cowley will be back in action Saturday when they play a doubleheader at Kansas City at 1 p.m. The Blue Devils are 14-12 overall and 8-12 in the conference.