Hutchinson slips past the Tiger baseball team 6-5

After defeating Hutchinson Community College by a score of 23-22 in a wild game played March 12 in Hutchinson, the Cowley College baseball team hosted the Blue Dragons on Tuesday in Arkansas City. This time, Hutchinson enacted some revenge with a 6-5 win.

Cowley has dropped back-to-back one-run games to fall to 23-10 on the season, while Hutchinson is now 27-8.

On Tuesday, Cowley out-hit Kansas City 11-8, but six Cowley pitchers combined to walk seven batters.

"Our inability to throw strikes hurt us," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "When you walk too many guys, it provides your opponent with more opportunities to score."

Tiger starting pitcher Ethan Horton did not allow a hit in three innings but walked four as he left the game leading 4-1.

Sophomore shortstop Jadyn McNealy had a two-run triple in a four-run third inning to give Cowley the early lead.

Hutchinson would score a run in the fourth inning off Tiger reliever Carson Moore and then tied the game at 4-4 when Cody Gunderson hit a two-run homer off Drew Duckhorn in the top of the fifth.

Cowley left-fielder Kade Sheldon regained the lead for the Tigers in the bottom of the fifth inning when he scored Keaton Campbell with a two-out triple.

Hutchinson would manufacture a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5.

The game would remain tied until the top of the ninth inning when Hutchinson second baseman Blake Bradford drew a one-out walk from Brett McComas (0-2), advanced to third on a double by Tyson Vassart, and came around to score what turned out to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly hit by Jon Davis.

Down to its final out, Cowley got a single from Dane Harvey before Campbell lined out to right field to end the game.

Six Hutchinson pitchers combined to strike out nine and walk only three in the road win.

Tiger freshman Cade Baldridge went 3-for-5 with three doubles and a run scored. Baldridge is now batting .367 with a team-high eight doubles.

"Cade really works hard at his craft and had a nice day at the plate," Burroughs said.

Harvey and Sheldon added two hits apiece for the Tigers, who will open an important four-game series against conference-leading Kansas City Kansas Community College on Thursday when they host a doubleheader in Arkansas City beginning at 1 p.m. The No. 11-ranked Blue Devils (28-3) have won 12 games in a row and are 15-1 in the Jayhawk East.

"We expect a tough battle against KCK in each game," Burroughs said. "It should be fun. We look forward to it."

Score by inning:                R H E

Hutch  0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 – 6 8 1

Cowley 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 5 11 2