February 19, 2010

Tiger baseball pounds Butler 14-9

One day after a disappointing loss to Hutchinson, the Cowley College baseball team got back on track with a 14-9 win over Butler Community College Thursday in Arkansas City.

The Tigers scored four times in the second inning and seven times in the third to lead 11-2. The Grizzlies would score seven unanswered runs to cut Cowley’s lead to 11-9 in the top of the seventh inning, but the Tigers would push across three more runs and get a solid relief outing from sophomore pitcher Chase Webb to hold on for the win.

The win was far from perfect as Cowley committed three errors and allowed Butler to score nine runs on 12 hits, but the Tigers did enough things right on offense to earn the victory.

“The effort and intensity level was a lot better than the day before,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “It was progress.”

Cowley finished the game with 15 hits and took advantage of six errors by the Grizzlies. Every Tiger starter had at least one hit in the win. Freshman first baseman Robbie Rea had a big day at the plate as he went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Fellow freshman Aaron Rea added two hits and scored three times, while sophomores Ronnie Melendez and Tyler Hancock finished with two hits a piece.

The Tigers, which are 2-1 on the season, are averaging 10 runs per game. On the flip side, Cowley pitchers are allowing an average of 8.3 runs per game.

Butler did most of its damage against Tiger reliever Andrew Polly, who entered the game with Cowley leading 11-4 in the top of the sixth inning. Butler’s Marc Waldron greeted Polly by belting a solo home run to left field to make the score 11-5. The Grizzlies would add another run in the sixth and three more runs in the seventh before Webb relieved Polly on the mound with a runner on third and nobody out.

Webb would allow a run scoring single to make the score 11-9, but then struck out the side to end the threat. Polly was charged with six hits and five runs in his one inning of work. Webb allowed just one hit in three innings, while striking out six and walking one.

Cowley got a RBI single from Matt Garcia in the seventh and used run scoring singles by Robbie Rea and Michael Morris in the eighth inning to cap the win.

Drew Rainey, a sophomore transfer from Wichita State University, started on the mound and earned his first win as a Tiger. Rainey (1-0) allowed three hits and one earned run in three innings pitched.

Sophomore Stephen Spirlock relieved Rainey in the top of the fourth and allowed four hits and one earned run in his two innings of work. Butler’s Derek Bell took the loss. Brett Macari led Butler with three hits in the defeat.

Cowley’s home doubleheader on Saturday vs. Iowa Western has been cancelled due to the weather. The Tigers will return to action Wednesday when they play at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa at 2 p.m.