Tiger baseball team takes two of three at Northeast Texas

The No. 7-ranked Cowley College baseball team showed some good things in opening the season by winning two of three games at Northeast Texas Community College Friday and Saturday in Mount Pleasant, TX. The Tigers opened with wins of 5-2 and 6-4 on Friday, before losing 11-3 on Saturday.

"We saw a lot of positives, but also a lot of things to work on," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "Early in the season we try to learn as much as we can about our club."

In Friday's season-opener, Cowley sophomore Grant Adler (1-0) started on the mound and struck out three over two scoreless innings.

Cowley led 3-0 after three innings of play before Northeast Texas scored two runs off Tiger reliever Jack Hill in the bottom of the fourth inning. A run scoring sacrifice fly by Trey DeGarmo and an RBI single by Elijah Wohl in the top of the sixth inning helped increase Cowley's lead to 5-2.

Tiger sophomore Miguel Fulgencio tossed two scoreless innings to go along with three strikeouts and Isaac Stebens pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to record his first save of the season.

In game two, Tiger sophomore centerfielder Bryce Madron was a triple shy of the cycle as he went 3-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored and a run batted in. Madron finished 6-for-12 with four runs scored on the weekend.

"Bryce is a special hitter and had a really good weekend," Burroughs said.

Five Tiger pitchers combined to hold the Eagles to six hits in the 6-4, nine-inning win of game two. Sophomore J'Briell Easley went the first two innings on the mound and allowed one hit and one run.

Chance Condit (1-0), the third Cowley pitcher used in game two, allowed one unearned run in tow innings of work to earn the victory. Jerome Tylicki did not allow a run over the final two innings as he picked up the save.

On Saturday, freshman right fielder Ty Hammack had an RBI single in the Tigers' two-run first inning. Cowley would remain ahead 2-0 heading into the fourth inning thanks to two scoreless innings from starting pitcher Aaron Weber and a scoreless third inning from Jordan Brewer. Weber struck out four, while Brewer tossed a 1-2-3 third inning.

However, the Eagles scored five runs off a pair of Tiger relievers in the bottom of the fourth inning. Seth Cox' three-run homer highlighted the five-run fourth.

Three Tiger errors and a pair of passed balls allowed Northeast Texas to score two runs in the sixth inning and four more in the seventh as they went on to the 11-3 win.

Janson Reeder had an RBI single for the Tigers in the loss, while second baseman Conner Gore went 3-for-4.

"We saw a lot of improvement through the weekend with Conner," Burroughs said. "It was good to see that because he will be important to our team's success."

Cowley is now 2-1 on the season. Jon Stanley (1-0) took the loss after allowing three runs in the Eagles' five run fourth inning.

Cowley used 17 pitchers in the three games.

"When you throw 17 guys, you are going to have some hiccups," Burroughs said. "We put guys in a lot of different positions and saw a lot of bright spots on the mound."

The Tigers will now prepare to play three games at the University of Central Oklahoma JUCO Festival in Edmond, OK beginning Friday with a game against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid at 3:30 p.m.

"We will keep looking to improve and minimize our mistakes," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one                      R H E

Cowley    2 0 1 0 0 2 0 – 5 8 2

NE Texas 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 – 2 7 5

Game two                            R H E

Cowley    0 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 – 6 9 1

NE Texas 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 – 4 6 1

Game three                           R H E

Cowley    2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 3 10 4

NE Texas 0 0 0 5 0 2 4 0 x – 11 7 0