April 27, 2009

Three-peat! Tiger baseball captures another conference crown

Coming back from a 12-8 loss to Independence in the first game of a doubleheader played Saturday in Arkansas City, the No. 17-ranked Cowley College baseball team captured its third straight Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division Crown with a 6-1 win of game two.
The Tigers are now 39-12 overall and finish the conference slate with a record of 29-7. Johnson County, which has two games remaining, is second in the conference with a record of 25-9.
Cowley continues its dominance in the conference as they have now won 13 of the past 15 Jayhawk East titles.
“It’s a tribute to our kids and our assistant coaches, they deserve all the credit,” said Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs. “It has been a fun group to be around and it has been fun to watch them all develop.”
After starting the season with a record of 9-4 in the conference, Cowley won 20 of its final 23 Jayhawk East contests.
In game one, Cowley held leads of 3-0 and 7-6 but were unable to secure the win. Independence scored a run in the fourth inning to tie the game at 7-7 and grabbed the lead by hitting back-to-back home runs off Tiger reliever Quinton Bane leading off the sixth inning.
Michael Flanagin relieved Bane on the mound but walked three and hit a batter as three more runs crossed the plate in the sixth. Eric Faust was a bright spot for the Tigers as she struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Tigers got a run scoring single by Ryan Hege in the seventh but it was not enough as they fell 12-8. Luke Zeller (1-3) started on the mound for Cowley and allowed seven hits and seven runs in 3 2/3 innings pitched.
Cowley out-hit Independence 12-11. Andy Petz went 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Ronald Melendez and Chance Ross each had two hits in the defeat.
The Tigers had allowed only 24 runs in its previous 13 games prior to the 12-run outburst by Independence in the opener. Cowley’s pitching got back on track thanks to a strong start by John Maler in game two.
Maler (2-2) struck out nine and allowed only two hits and one run in five innings pitched. Chase Webb and Trevor Rosenthal finished off the two-hitter by each pitching a scoreless inning of relief.
After Maler gave up his only run of the game in the top of the first inning, Cowley came back with three runs in the bottom of the first and three more in the fourth. Hancock had a two-run double in the three-run first, and scored the Tigers’ other run in the inning on a balk.
A pair of errors and three walks helped the Tigers score their runs in the fourth. Zeller had Cowley’s only hit in the inning, a double, which scored Matt Garcia and Chance Ross.
Cowley had only six hits in the game, but took advantage of seven walks and three errors by the Pirates.
Cowley will host Seminole State Community College today at 4 p.m. The Tigers will then host the sub-regional of the Region VI Playoffs on Saturday, with the first game beginning at 1 p.m. and the second game to follow 30 minutes after the completion of game one.
If a third and final game is needed to be played, the game will take place Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We are not ready for our season to end, hopefully we can carry on for another three or four weeks,” Burroughs said.
Score by inning:
Game one                    R H E
Indy     0 6 0 1 0 5 0 — 12 11 4
Cowley 3 0 4 0 0 0 1 — 8 12 0
Game two                   R H E
Indy     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 2 3
Cowley 3 0 0 3 0 0 x — 6 6 1