Tigers win with a walk-off and a run-rule
The No. 16-ranked Cowley College baseball team rallied from four runs down in its final at bat to defeat Fort Scott 12-11 in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday in Arkansas City before run-ruling the Greyhounds 10-0 in game two.
The victories move the Tigers (28-7) into sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a conference record of 16-2. Fort Scott falls to 24-12 overall and 12-10 in the Jayhawk East.
Trailing game one 11-7, Cowley scored five runs without recording an out in the bottom of the seventh to complete the wild comeback. Parker Dunn hit a two-run single off Brayden Leathers to tie the game, and two batters later, Cade Stephens' singled down the first base line to score Blaze Brothers with the winning run.
Shortly after the winning run crossed the plate, the Tiger players rushed out of the dugout to celebrate on the field with Stephens.
"I was happy for our guys. They showed they are pretty resilient," Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. "We are showing progress because I'm not sure we could have done that three or four weeks ago."
Dunn homered and drove in five, while Cody Milligan and George Specht had three hits apiece and combined to score five runs. Milligan leads the Tigers with a .429 batting average.
Coming off a string of dominant outings on the mound, Cowley sophomore Cole Larsen did not have the same stuff on Thursday as he allowed four runs in the first inning. Dunn got three of the runs back on one swing when he hit his third home run of the season off Fort Scott starting pitcher Wyatt Folsom. Cowley would tie the game at 4-4 with a run in the bottom of the second before Fort Scott went back in front by a run following a solo homer by Aris Nakagawa leading off the third.
Larsen would last only 2 1/3 innings on the mound and allowed six hits and six runs.
Hunter O'Toole, the fourth pitcher used by the Tigers, came on to pitch the sixth and seventh innings. The freshman allowed six hits and three runs in two innings of relief. O'Toole struck out three and improved his record to 3-0 on the season.
Sophomore Andrew Roach started the nightcap and tossed a complete game shutout in the 10-0 seven-inning run-rule win of game two. Roach (4-2) allowed only five hits, while striking out nine and walking three.
"It was good to see him get back on track," Burroughs said.
Cowley out-hit Fort Scott 13-5 in game two and were aided by four Greyhound errors.
Dunn had another big game at the plate by going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and raised his batting average to .391.
"He kind of put us on his back and carried us," Burroughs said. "Some of the young guys stepped up and played good too."
Freshman shortstop Logan Steenstra went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while freshman centerfielder Tyler Halstead went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Fort Scott starting pitcher Bo Dallas (3-3) allowed 11 hits and six runs in five innings pitched.
The teams will wrap up their four-game series by playing a doubleheader at Fort Scott Friday beginning at 2 p.m.
Score by inning:
Game one R H E
Fort Scott 4 0 2 0 2 1 2 11 16 2
Cowley 3 1 0 1 2 0 5 12 13 0
Game two R H E
Fort Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4
Cowley 0 3 0 2 1 4 x 10 13 1