Tigers wrap up fourth straight conference title with 13-3 win over Johnson County

Needing to win only one of its two games at No. 7-ranked Johnson County on Friday in order to clinch its outright fourth straight conference title, the No. 10-ranked Cowley College baseball team took the suspense out early by blasting the Cavaliers 13-3 in game one. The Tigers would drop the second game 7-6 as they finish the regular season with a record of 40-8 overall and 27-5 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Johnson County (42-8) finished two games in back of the Tigers and in second place in the conference with a record of 25-7 as Cowley took three of four in the final series of the regular season.

"It is always a goal of ours to win the conference, so we are proud to get that accomplished," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

In Friday's opener, Gus Freeman had a huge game at the plate as the sophomore catcher went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and six runs batted in. Freeman now has five home runs on the season and leads the Tigers with a .453 batting average.

"Gus had an outstanding game and was extremely big for us," Burroughs said.

Trey DeGarmo also homered and went 3-for-4 in the win. The homer was the second of the season for DeGarmo, who is now batting .382 on the season.

That was more than enough run-support for freshman pitcher Grant Adler, who allowed only five hit and two runs in six innings pitched. Adler improves his record to 6-0 and lowered his earned run average to 2.85.

"Grant made some adjustments and got better as the game went along," Burroughs said.

With the conference title wrapped up, Cowley used seven pitchers in Friday's finale.

In game two, Elijah Jackson hit a grand slam in the top of the first inning to give the Tigers an early 4-0 lead. The homer was the fourth of the season for Jackson.

However, Johnson County scored four runs off Cowley starting pitcher Logan Kimbro in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at 4-4. The Cavaliers would go in front 6-4 after scoring two runs off Tiger reliever Racer Felter (2-1) in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Johnson County would tack on another run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Alex Austin's second homer of the game increased the Cavaliers' lead to 7-4.

After scratching across a run in the seventh to pull within 7-5, the Tigers inched closer when Elijah Wohl scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the ninth inning. The wild pitch advanced Felix Chenier-Rondeau to second base, but Johnson County reliever Hunter Edwards struck out Joel Benes to preserve the 7-6 win for the Cavaliers.

Wohl led Cowley at the plate by going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Wohl raised his average to .357.

Tiger relievers Caleb Case, Lindon Curley, Jordan Brewer, and Jerome Tylicki combined to toss 4 1/3 innings of perfect relief. The four-some struck out five and did not walk a batter in 4 1/3 innings of hitless relief.

"We tried to put guys in situations to get back on the mound and all of them performed well," Burroughs said.

Rene Ramos pitched the fourth through sixth innings for Johnson County and allowed only one base runner while improving his record to 5-1 on the season.

The Tigers earned the No. 1-seed in the East No. 1 sub-regional to be played Friday through Sunday in Arkansas City. Cowley will open the sub-regional by facing Dodge City (21-28), which finished eighth in the Jayhawk West with a conference record of 11-21. The game will be played Friday at 11 a.m.

"Playing at home should be an advantage for us," Burroughs said. "We want to continue moving on and will need to step up to the challenge."

Game one                      R H E

Cowley  2 1 2 0 2 4 2 – 13 12 0

Johnson 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 – 3 7 1

Game two                           R H E

Cowley  4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 – 6 9 1

Johnson 0 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 x – 7 6 1