No. 9-ranked Tiger baseball team opens conference play by going 3-1

Following a loss at Labette in the opener of a four-game series, the Cowley College baseball team bounced back to win the final three games to improve its record to 12-3 on the season.

On Friday at Labette, Cowley raced out to a 3-0 lead after two innings of play but did not score again in the 5-3 loss.

Freshman Russ Smith (1-1) took the loss, allowing five hits and four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Delton Roberts followed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, but Labette pitchers Connor Brady and Evan McDaniel held Cowley to three hits.

Sophomore shortstop Cade Baldridge went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, while Dax McCaskill went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Cowley freshman starting pitcher Kyle Zagar (3-0) and two relievers, Chance Acord and Cameron Mock, combined on a 9-0 shutout of Labette in Friday's second game. Zagar struck out eight in five innings, and Tiger pitchers combined for 13 punchouts.

Creed Muirhead supplied the majority of Cowley's offense as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and five runs batted in. Logan Groh and Weston Thomas added three hits apiece, and the Tigers out-hit Labette 15-7.

The team then headed to Ark City for a doubleheader on Sunday.

Cowley appeared on its way to an easy win in Sunday's first game as they led 6-0 after five innings of play. However, sophomore Tallen Bagwell was removed from the game with a no-hitter going through five innings. Bagwell (3-0) struck out nine and walked one before being replaced after throwing 76 pitches.

The Cardinals were happy to have Bagwell off the mound as they scored four runs off three Tiger relievers in the top of the sixth inning to pull within 6-4.

Labette would scratch across another run in the seventh inning and had runners at first and second when Luke Schimmels struck out Wiljerry Santiago to preserve the Tigers' 6-5 win. The save for Schimmels was his third of the season.

Baldridge added two more hits out of the leadoff spot, while Carter Freeland and Ian Luce added two hits apiece.

Trailing Sunday's final game by a score of 1-0, Cowley erupted for eight runs in the fourth inning, three in the fifth, and four more in the sixth to win 15-1.

Baldridge finished a big weekend by going 3-for-4 with two home runs and six batted in. Dax McCaskill also homered, while Dawson Williams tripled and drove in three, and Kade Sheldon had two extra-base hits.

Keegan Robertson (2-0) was the beneficiary of the run support. The left-hander allowed three hits and one run while striking out six and walking none. Lucas Weaver and Mitchell Johnson followed with two scoreless innings of relief.

Cowley will play a single, nine-inning game at No. 20-ranked Hutchinson (16-3) on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

Cowley1 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 3 3 2

Labette 0 0 3 2 0 0 x – 5 5 0

Game two                          R H E

Cowley 0 3 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 – 9 15 1

Labette 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 7 0

Game three                 R H E

Labette 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 – 5 3 2

Cowley 0 0 2 1 3 0 x – 6 10 4

Game four                   R H E

Labette 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 3 1

Cowley 0 0 0 8 3 4 x – 15 12 1