Easley tosses no hitter in doubleheader sweep of Coffeyville

The No. 12-ranked Cowley College baseball team got a no-hitter from freshman J'Briell Easley in a doubleheader sweep of Coffeyville Community College Thursday in Arkansas City. Easley's gem led the Tigers to a 3-0 win of game one, while Cowley run-ruled the Red Ravens 16-6 in game two.

Cowley, winners of four games in a row, is now 23-4 overall and 14-2 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Coffeyville is now 11-13 overall and 3-7 in the Jayhawk East.

Janson Reeder broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Later in the inning, David Herring came through with a two-run triple to increase the Tigers' lead to 3-0. Reeder and Herring are now tied for the team-lead in home runs with six.

That would be more than enough run support for Easley as the right-hander struck out the side in the seventh inning to finish off the no-hitter. Easley struck out eight and walked one as he improved his record to 6-0 on the season.

"J'Briell commanded the zone early and is starting to develop as a pitcher," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "You have got to have a little luck to throw a no-hitter and we made some nice plays defensively to help him."

Chat Hayes took the loss for Coffeyville despite holding Cowley to six hits and three runs in six innings.

In game two, Andrew Williams hit a grand slam and Cowley scored at least three runs in four of the seven innings. Colby Jarnagin's two-run double finished off the run-rule win in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Batting in the leadoff spot, Bryce Madron was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle as he went 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and three runs scored.

"It was good to see us bounce back offensively and put some big numbers up in that second game," Burroughs said.

Titan Stephens started on the mound for Cowley and allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Cole Miller (1-0) pitched the third and fourth innings and allowed only one run while striking out four as he earned the victory.

The teams will wrap up their four-game series by playing a doubleheader at Coffeyville Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

"We want to be a little more consistent and try to get a little better every day," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one                        R H E

Coffeyville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 1

Cowley      0 0 0 3 0 0 x – 3 5 1

Game two                         R H E

Coffeyville 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 – 6 11 1                         

Cowley      1 3 4 4 0 0 4 – 16 15 1