Tigers take down Fort Scott, finish second in the Jayhawk East

After being shut out three times in a five-game stretch, the Cowley College baseball team has responded by scoring 74 runs in its past five games. The Tigers continued to light up the scoreboard with wins of 22-6 and 13-12 over Fort Scott Saturday in Arkansas City. With the wins, Cowley finishes second to Johnson County in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division after having won the previous five conference titles.

Cowley (33-19) finished with a record of 23-9 in the conference, while Johnson County went 29-3. Fort Scott (35-21) finished third in the East with a conference mark of 19-13.

On Saturday, Cowley pounded out 24 hits and benefited from 22 walks.

"It was good for us to come out and play the way we did, knowing we had a job to do," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "We did a good job of making Fort Scott pay for the mistakes they made."

The Tigers needed just five innings to win the opener 22-6. Trayson Miller led Cowley's 16-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a home run and five runs batted in. Freshman Keaton Campbell also homered and drove in five, while Ty Hammack went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI.

Danny Satterlee was the beneficiary of the run support as he went the first four innings on the mound, allowing six hits and five runs. Luke Singleton pitched a scoreless fifth inning to finish off the run-rule victory.

In game two, Cowley held leads of 8-4 and 13-7 before holding on for the one-run win.

Cooper Schwindt tripled and drove in four for the Tigers, while Ty Hammack hit his 16^th home run of the season and drove in three.

"Ty has shown a lot of maturity this season and had a good day at the plate," Burroughs said.

Batting out of the leadoff spot, Jadyn McNealy walked five times and scored twice. 

Cole Abbott, Cowley's seventh pitcher of the game, went the final two innings to help the Tigers hold on for the one-run win.

Cowley will host Pratt in the best-of-three sub-regional baseball tournament Wednesday at 2 p.m., with the Tigers being the fourth seed and Pratt (24-31) the 13^th seed. The teams will play again Thursday at 2 p.m. and, if necessary, Friday at 2 p.m. The winner of the sub-regional will advance to play at Wichita State University May 17-20.

"We need to show up and play our best in order to advance," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one                R H E

Ft. Scott 0 0 0 2 4 –   6 6 0

Cowley  5 11 3 3 x – 22 16 2

Game two                             R H E

Ft. Scott 1 0 3 3 0 2 2 0 1 – 12 14 0

Cowley   2 0 6 3 2 0 0 0 x – 13 8 1