Tiger Magic lives on as Cowley baseball team wins extra inning thriller
| Final (11) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Butler Community College - KS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 4 |
|
Cowley County Community College | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 1 |
A three-hour weather delay, the game being postponed from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, and being down to its final strike did not deter the top-seeded Cowley College baseball team from rallying to defeat eighth-seeded Butler Community College 9-8 in the Region VI Tournament played at Kansas State University's Tointon Family Stadium.
The Tigers came back from four different deficits to win on freshman Haden O'Toole's two-run single in the bottom of the 11th inning.
The game, which began Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., resumed Wednesday morning with the score tied 7-7 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The score would remain tied until Butler scored a run in the top of the 11th inning off Cowley closer Isaac Stebens (2-1), who was on for his third inning of relief. Stebens struck out seven as Cowley pitchers combined to strike out 14 Butler batters.
Trailing 8-7, Cowley got singles from Logan Vaughan and Ty Hammack and had runners at second and third with two outs. Down to its final strike, O'Toole sent a pitch back up the middle to score pinch-runner Cade Stephenson and Hammack with the winning run.
The Tiger players rushed the field to mob O'Toole as they advance to face fifth-seeded Johnson County (44-15) later Wednesday night around 8 p.m.
Cowley (47-9) was led by shortstop David Herring going 4-for-6 with a run batted in, while Vaughan and O'Toole had three hits apiece. The Tigers out-hit Butler 17-14 and benefitted from four Grizzly errors.
Andrew Wisner (2-3) allowed three hits and two runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched as he was saddled with the loss.
All games at the Region VI Tournament can be seen at kjccc.org/sports-network.
Score by inning: R H E
Butler 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 – 8 14 4
Cowley 0 0 3 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 – 9 17 1