May 12, 2009

Tiger baseball stays in hunt for region title, wins pair of games

Fresh on the heels of a 3-0 win over Barton County Monday at Wichita’s Lawrence Dumont Stadium, the No. 15-ranked Cowley College baseball team sent another team home as they defeated Garden City 9-6.

Alex Schell tossed a complete game shutout in the win over Barton County and the Tiger offense came alive in the win over Garden City. Cowley pounded out 14 hits and used a four-run fifth inning to grab a lead they would not relinquish.

Against Barton County, Schell (7-2) allowed just five hits, while striking out seven.

Cowley got the scoring started in the top of the first inning as Andy Petz walked with one out, advanced to third on an infield single by Mac Gordon, and scored on a single by Frank Specht. Landon Fall came in to pitch after the single by Specht as the Cougars’ Spencer Blades lasted only 1 1/3 innings on the mound. Blades allowed two hits, three walks, and one run.

The score remained 1-0 until the top of the sixth inning as Cowley manufactured a run. B.J. Misialek walked to lead off the inning, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Colt Loehrs.

Misialek again walked to lead off the eighth, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out by Ryan Hege and scored on a single by Colt Loehrs to put Cowley on top 3-0.

Misialek walked three times, stole two bases and scored two runs for the Tigers. Freshman catcher Mac Gordon had three hits and Loehrs drove in a pair of runs as Cowley advanced to play Garden City, which was a 3-2 winner over Fort Scott earlier on Monday.

After grabbing an early 2-0 lead against the Broncbusters, Cowley starting pitcher Caleb Bass ran into trouble in the bottom of the third inning. Bass was taken out of the game after allowing three runs in the third. Chase Webb came on in relief of Bass and helped stabilize the game for the Tigers.

With Webb shutting down the Garden City offense, Cowley would regain the lead on a two-run single by B.J. Misialek in the top of the fourth inning. Misialek would then score on a double by Ryan Hege. Mac Gordon, who went 3-for-5 with a home run and five runs batted in would cap the four-run inning with an RBI single.

Gordon would add another run scoring single in the seventh as Cowley’s lead grew to 7-3. Webb was cruising on the mound until the bottom of the eighth as Garden City mounted a two-out rally. The Broncbusters would score three runs with two outs and cut Cowley’s lead to 7-6. With runners at first and second, Trevor Rosenthal relieved Webb on the mound. Rosenthal got Sloan Soulia to ground out to end the inning.

Cowley would get some insurance runs in the ninth as Misialek led off with an infield single and came around to score on a two-out, two-run homer by Gordon. The homer by Gordon, his second of the season, put the Tigers ahead 9-6.

Rosenthal would pitch a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his seventh save of the season. Webb (4-1) earned the win as he allowed five hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Webb also struck out five and walked two.

Along with Gordon’s big night at the plate, Misialek, Hege, Colt Loehrs, Tyler Hancock, and Ronald Melendez had two hits apiece. Cowley is now 44-13 on the season, while Garden City ends the season with a record of 45-17.

Jose Cifuentes took the loss on the mound for Garden City as he allowed six hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings of work.

Cowley will face Colby, a 10-9 loser to Seward County on Monday, Tuesday at 4 p.m. The winner will advance to play Seward County in the championship round beginning Tuesday night at 7 p.m.  If necessary, a final game in the double elimination tournament would be played Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The game vs. Colby at 4 p.m. can be heard on KSOK Radio 1280 AM. If Cowley defeats Colby, the game vs. Seward County at 7 p.m. would be broadcast on KSOK Radio 95.9 FM.