Tigers fall to Barton, set up winner take all matchup
May 15, 2018
Battling through a weather delay that forced Monday night's game against Barton County to be resumed Tuesday morning, the top-seeded Cowley College baseball team suffered a 16-7 loss to second-seeded Barton County in the championship round of the Central District Region VI Tournament played at Wichita's Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The teams will meet again today at 1 p.m. with an automatic bid to the JUCO World Series on the line.
Harrison Denk, who had four hits and reached base safely in six of his seven plate appearances, led off Monday's game with a single on the first pitch and advanced to second on a one-out walk to Brett Bonar. However, Tiger starting pitcher J.K. Hadlock, a sophomore transfer from Northern Oklahoma College-Enid, got Brady Michel to ground into an inning ending double play.
Austin Taylor made the start on the mound for the Cougars and promptly walked Devin Beard and Alex Peterson to lead off the bottom half of the first inning. Then on an 0-and-2 count he surrendered a two-run double to Tiger third baseman Cross Factor and was chased from the game.
Freshman Zach Curry took over on the mound and after getting Grady Davenport to ground out, allowed a sacrifice fly to catcher Dalton Dinkel to increase Cowley's lead to 3-0.
However, the Cougars chased Hadlock from the game in the top of the second after he hit Harrison Denk with a pitch to force in a run with the bases loaded.
Sophomore transfer Braden Minor, who had not pitched since March 24, relieved Hadlock on the mound with the bases loaded and one out. Barton's Carson Engroff greeted Minor with a two-run single to centerfield and and Bonar followed with a run scoring single to right field to put the Cougars in front 4-3.
After retiring the next six batters he faced, Minor allowed a single to Denk that was misplayed by right fielder Grady Davenport which allowed Denk to advance to third. Engroff then followed with an RBI single to left field and Bonar crushed a two-run homer to centerfield to increase Barton's lead to 7-3 after three and a half innings of play. Bonar finished the game 4-for-4 with four RBIs.
Curry did not allow a run in three innings before giving way to Easton Smith to start the bottom of the fourth inning. Smith loaded the bases with only one out but the Tigers were unable to score as Smith got Carson Sader to ground into a force out at home and then got Beard to fly out to right field to end the threat.
Barton's Tanner Howe entered to pitch the fifth inning and after retiring the first two batters walked Grady Davenport. Dinkel then launched a deep fly ball that Cougar left fielder Harrison Denk leaped to catch while crashing into the wall.
Mark Hartley relieved Minor to start the sixth inning right when a lightning strike forced the game to go into a weather delay. The officials eventually decided to postpone the game to resume Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Minor allowed five hits and three runs in 3 1/3 innings, while Hadlock (4-1) was charged with four runs in 1 2/3 innings.
When the game resumed Andrew Roach was on the mound for the Tigers.
A walk and a three-base error by second baseman Carson Sader allowed Harrison Denk to score from first to increase the Cougars' lead to 8-3. Bonar followed with an RBI single to make the score 9-3.
Barton was not done as Brady Michel doubled in a run and Brett Erickson hit a triple to score Michel with the Cougars' 11th run.
Casey Wulfkugle came on to pitch the bottom of the sixth for Barton and loaded the bases before being relieved on the mound by Neil Lemmons with nobody out. Lemmons promptly hit Carson Sader with a pitch to force in a run.
However, Lemmons then got Beard to foul out to the catcher and got Peterson to bounce into a double play to avoid further damage.
After Barton scored a run off a pair of Tiger relievers in the top of the seventh inning, Cowley answered back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Kea'Von Edwards' third hit of the game, an RBI double, highlighted the three-run inning. However, the Tigers lost a chance to pull closer when Cougar Reliever Nolan Riley struck out Peterson to strand the bases loaded.
Barton would tack on three more runs in the ninth inning en route to the 16-7 win.
Barton pitchers combined to walk 10 batters but allowed only seven hits. Cowley pitchers also walked 10 batters but surrendered 17 hits.
Score by inning: R H E
Barton 0 4 0 3 0 4 1 1 2 - 16 17 1
Cowley 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 7 7 3
Harrison Denk, who had four hits and reached base safely in six of his seven plate appearances, led off Monday's game with a single on the first pitch and advanced to second on a one-out walk to Brett Bonar. However, Tiger starting pitcher J.K. Hadlock, a sophomore transfer from Northern Oklahoma College-Enid, got Brady Michel to ground into an inning ending double play.
Austin Taylor made the start on the mound for the Cougars and promptly walked Devin Beard and Alex Peterson to lead off the bottom half of the first inning. Then on an 0-and-2 count he surrendered a two-run double to Tiger third baseman Cross Factor and was chased from the game.
Freshman Zach Curry took over on the mound and after getting Grady Davenport to ground out, allowed a sacrifice fly to catcher Dalton Dinkel to increase Cowley's lead to 3-0.
However, the Cougars chased Hadlock from the game in the top of the second after he hit Harrison Denk with a pitch to force in a run with the bases loaded.
Sophomore transfer Braden Minor, who had not pitched since March 24, relieved Hadlock on the mound with the bases loaded and one out. Barton's Carson Engroff greeted Minor with a two-run single to centerfield and and Bonar followed with a run scoring single to right field to put the Cougars in front 4-3.
After retiring the next six batters he faced, Minor allowed a single to Denk that was misplayed by right fielder Grady Davenport which allowed Denk to advance to third. Engroff then followed with an RBI single to left field and Bonar crushed a two-run homer to centerfield to increase Barton's lead to 7-3 after three and a half innings of play. Bonar finished the game 4-for-4 with four RBIs.
Curry did not allow a run in three innings before giving way to Easton Smith to start the bottom of the fourth inning. Smith loaded the bases with only one out but the Tigers were unable to score as Smith got Carson Sader to ground into a force out at home and then got Beard to fly out to right field to end the threat.
Barton's Tanner Howe entered to pitch the fifth inning and after retiring the first two batters walked Grady Davenport. Dinkel then launched a deep fly ball that Cougar left fielder Harrison Denk leaped to catch while crashing into the wall.
Mark Hartley relieved Minor to start the sixth inning right when a lightning strike forced the game to go into a weather delay. The officials eventually decided to postpone the game to resume Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Minor allowed five hits and three runs in 3 1/3 innings, while Hadlock (4-1) was charged with four runs in 1 2/3 innings.
When the game resumed Andrew Roach was on the mound for the Tigers.
A walk and a three-base error by second baseman Carson Sader allowed Harrison Denk to score from first to increase the Cougars' lead to 8-3. Bonar followed with an RBI single to make the score 9-3.
Barton was not done as Brady Michel doubled in a run and Brett Erickson hit a triple to score Michel with the Cougars' 11th run.
Casey Wulfkugle came on to pitch the bottom of the sixth for Barton and loaded the bases before being relieved on the mound by Neil Lemmons with nobody out. Lemmons promptly hit Carson Sader with a pitch to force in a run.
However, Lemmons then got Beard to foul out to the catcher and got Peterson to bounce into a double play to avoid further damage.
After Barton scored a run off a pair of Tiger relievers in the top of the seventh inning, Cowley answered back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Kea'Von Edwards' third hit of the game, an RBI double, highlighted the three-run inning. However, the Tigers lost a chance to pull closer when Cougar Reliever Nolan Riley struck out Peterson to strand the bases loaded.
Barton would tack on three more runs in the ninth inning en route to the 16-7 win.
Barton pitchers combined to walk 10 batters but allowed only seven hits. Cowley pitchers also walked 10 batters but surrendered 17 hits.
Score by inning: R H E
Barton 0 4 0 3 0 4 1 1 2 - 16 17 1
Cowley 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 7 7 3