Tiger baseball team inches closer to wrapping up second place in the conference

Facing a Fort Scott squad that entered Wednesday's doubleheader as winners of 11 games in a row, the Cowley College baseball team split a pair of games in Fort Scott. The Tigers won the opener 14-3 before losing game two 11-3.

"It was a tale of two games," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "We started really well in the first game but did not hit or pitch well in the second one."

Cowley (31-19) is now 21-9 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, while Fort Scott (35-19) is 19-11. The Tigers must win at least one of the final two regular season games played between the teams on Saturday to clinch second place in the conference.

Johnson County, 27-3 in the Jayhawk East, snapped Cowley's string of conference titles at five in a row.

In Wednesday's opener, the Tigers got a grand slam from sophomore Haden O'Toole, his first home run of the season, in a seven-run first inning. Ty Hammack and Cooper Schwindt also homered in the 14-3 five-inning run-rule win. Hammack drove in four runs, while Schwindt led Cowley's 15-hit attack by going 3-for-4.

Chance Cox (5-1) earned the victory as he allowed five hits and two earned runs in five innings.

The Greyhounds flipped the script in game two as they got to Cowley starting pitcher Brigden Parker (4-2) for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings and cruised to the 11-3 win. Five Fort Scott pitchers combined to limit Cowley to eight hits, while the Greyhounds got home runs from five players.

Hammack and Cole Martin combined for five of Cowley's eight hits; each homered and doubled in the defeat. Hammack leads the Tigers with 15 home runs, 19 doubles, and 60 runs batted in.

The teams will wrap up the regular season by playing a pair of games in Arkansas City on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

"It is important that we come out and do what we do well," Burroughs said. "It all starts on the mound."

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

Cowley  7 0 3 2 2 0 – 14 15 1

Ft. Scott 0 1 1 0 1 0 – 3 5 0

Game two                            R H E

Cowley   1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 3 8 0

Ft. Scott 2 2 0 4 1 0 0 2 x – 11 10 0