May 21, 2009

Tiger baseball heads to Colorado with sights set on a title

Winners of nine of its last 10 games, the Cowley College baseball team will head to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Co. with a load of confidence.

Cowley will open the World Series against a familiar foe in Seminole State College (40-18) Saturday at 4 p.m. central standard time. The Trojans defeated the Tigers 7-3 Feb. 10 in Seminole, Okla. in what was the Tigers’ third game of the season.

Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs has seen his team improve in many areas since that early season contest as Cowley heads into the JUCO World Series with a record of 47-13.

“We have gotten better in every area since then,” Burroughs said. “There is a healthy respect between both teams, they have got a good, sophomore laden club. We try to prepare our guys for the end of the season by playing quality people out of conference, like Seminole.”

This marks the seventh time in the past 14 years that the Tigers have qualified for the JUCO World Series, with Cowley reaching the ultimate pinnacle of success by winning back-to-back national championships in 1997 and 1998.

During the regular season, Cowley captured its third straight Jayhawk East title. They followed that up by winning the Region VI title by going 6-1 at the region tournament.

Cowley is led by its stellar pitching staff, which has compiled an incredible earned run average of only 2.61.

“What the pitchers have done is unbelievable,” Burroughs said. “If we are strong on  the mound and up the middle defensively, hopefully we will hit enough to win.”

Freshman Zach Cargill, who was named a first-team all-conference performer, leads the pitching staff with a record of 8-0 and an earned run average of 1.78. Sophomore Alex Schell has the best ERA on the staff as he has compiled a record of 7-2 to go with his 1.71 ERA. Fellow sophomore Stephen Kohlscheen leads the staff in wins as he has gone 9-2 with a 2.25 ERA.

At the plate, Cowley is batting .341, while holding opponents to an astoundingly low .224 average. Freshman second baseman B.J. Misialek is coming off a terrific performance at the Region VI Tournament as he went 12-for-28 with seven runs batted in. For the season, Misialek is batting .377 with seven home runs and a team-high 55 RBI.

Caleb Bass (.388 average) and Luke Zeller, who is batting .382 with  a team-high 19 doubles have also been solid at the plate. While, Ronald Melendez (.357), Ryan Hege (.353), and Mac Gordon (.350) are all hitting .350 or better. Sophomore third baseman Frank Specht leads the team with eight home runs.

If Cowley wins on Saturday they will play again Monday at 3 p.m. For a complete bracket click on www.jucogj.org/upload/bracket.pdf “The guys are excited, reality has started to set in,” Burroughs said.
Other teams at the JUCO World Series are, Western Nevada College (45-12), Howard College (58-1), Iowa Western Community College (39-22), Middle Georgia College (43-18), Spartanburg Methodist College (54-7), Shelton State Community College (43-16), Santa Fe Community College (32-20), and San Jacinto College (43-9).

Every Tiger baseball game at the JUCO World Series will be broadcast on KSOK Radio 95.9 FM.