Tiger baseball team takes two of three from Seward

Playing Jayhawk West foe Seward County in a three-game series, the No. 11-ranked Cowley College baseball team got strong pitching for the majority of the weekend as they won two of three games played in Arkansas City on Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers opened with a 10-2 win on Saturday before losing 6-0. Cowley bounced back on Sunday to win 2-0.

Cowley improves its record to 28-6, while Seward falls to 18-18.

"It was a good series, Seward has a nice club," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

In Saturday's opener, Cowley's Felix Chanier-Rondeau went 2-for-2 with a home run, double and four runs batted in. Chanier-Rondeau hit a two-run double in a three-run third inning that increased Cowley's lead to 5-0. He added a two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning to make the score 10-1. The homer was the sixth of the season for Chanier-Rondeau.

Pitching for the first time since his no-hitter on April 8, J'Briell Easley allowed only two hits and one run in five innings as he improved his record to 7-0 on the season. Easley struck out five and walked two. Cameron Allen pitched the final two innings to finish off the 10-2 win.

"We played a really good game in the opener," Burroughs said.

In the second game of the series, Seward scored five runs in the first inning off Tiger starting pitcher Racer Felter (2-1). That would be more than enough run support for Saints' starting pitcher Dylan Day, who did not allow a run in six innings pitched. Day struck out seven and allowed four hits in the win.

Cory Wilder relieved Day on the mound and allowed only one hit, while striking out five in three scoreless innings of relief. The loss marked the first time this season Cowley has been shutout.

Michelle Artzberger and David Herring had two hits apiece as Cowley managed only five hits in the loss.

Sophomore Garrett VanDeventer followed Felter on the mound and allowed no earned runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched. While, Christian Johnson and Lindon Curley tossed two scoreless innings apiece.

Cowley bounced back in the finale thanks to a strong start by freshman Grant Adler, who scattered six hits over five scoreless innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked one as he improved his record to 5-0 on the season.

Sophomore catcher Gus Freeman accounted for all the scoring Adler would need as he cracked a solo homer in the sixth inning and added an RBI single, while going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in.

"His homer gave us some breathing room," Burroughs said.

Tiger relievers Caleb Case, Jerome Tylicki, and Isaac Stebens combined on Cowley's fifth shutout of the season.

"We had a lot of different guys on the mound step up and pitch well," Burroughs said.

Weather permitting, Cowley is scheduled to play at Butler Tuesday at 1 p.m. The Tigers will then play a doubleheader at Labette Community College on Thursday beginning at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

Seward 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 – 2 4 0

Cowley 2 3 0 2 3 0 x – 10 10 0

Game two                         R H E

Seward 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 6 8 0

Cowley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 5 1

Game three                       R H E

Seward 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 8 0

Cowley 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 x – 2 7 1