Tiger baseball team moves to 30-6 with crushing of Labette

The No. 10-ranked Cowley College baseball team moved within one game of first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a pair of wins at Labette Community College on Thursday. The Tigers run-ruled the Cardinals 12-0 in game one and then pummeled Labette 15-3 in game two.

Cowley improves to 30-6 overall and 17-3 in the Jayhawk East. The Tigers trail conference-leading Johnson County (18-2) by only one game with 12 conference games remaining.

In game one, sophomore Miguel Obeso (2-2) made his first start of the season and was dominant on the mound as he allowed only one hit to go along with seven strikeouts.

"He pitched really well and commanded the zone," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

Leading 4-0 after three innings of play, Cowley scored eight runs in the fourth inning to blow the game open.

Tiger leftfielder Janson Reeder went 4-for-4 with two runs batted in as Cowley pounded out 13 hits in the five-inning victory.

In game two, Cowley trailed 3-1 after one inning of play before striking for five runs in the second inning and five more in the third. The Tigers would score 14 unanswered runs in the 15-3 win.

Cowley first baseman Michelle Artzberger hit a three-run homer and five Tigers drove in at least two runs apiece. Reeder finished game two, 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and two runs driven in.

"Reeder hit a lot of balls hard. Even the out he made was on a ball he hit well," Burroughs said.

Reeder, Artzberger, and Blake Robertson are all tied for the team lead with 51 runs batted in, while David Herring is just behind with 49.

Racer Felter settled in after a rough first inning to go 3 1/3 innings on the mound. He allowed two hits and three earned runs as he improved his record to 2-1 on the season.

Cameron Allen followed with 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief and Jordan Brewer pitched a scoreless seventh to finish off the win.

Labette, losers of 11 games in a row, will play a doubleheader at Cowley Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

"It all starts on the mound, so we will need to pitch well," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one               R H E

Cowley 1 2 1 8 0 – 12 13 0

Labette 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 1 0

Game two                     R H E

Cowley 1 5 5 0 2 2 0 – 15 11 2

Labette 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 3 2 0