Tiger baseball team sweeps season-opening series in Texas

Playing nearly every player on its roster, the No. 20-ranked Cowley College baseball team had a strong opening to its season as they won all three games played at Northeast Texas Community College on Friday and Saturday in Mount Pleasant, TX. On Friday, Cowley won 5-4 and 12-3 before sweeping the three-game series with a 10-1 victory on Saturday.

"It is always good to get wins, especially early in the season," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "I felt we made a lot of improvements as the weekend went along."

In Friday's opener, Cowley rallied from a 3-0 deficit by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth inning. Sophomore Ian Luce had a two-run single in the five-run fifth, and Cade Baldridge singled, stole second, and came around to score the final run of the inning.

Russ Smith started on the mound for Cowley and retired all six batters he faced to go along with three strikeouts. Luke Schimmels, the fifth pitcher used by the Tigers, came on to pitch the seventh inning and preserve the one-run lead. After walking the leadoff batter, Schimmels struck out the next three batters to earn his first save.

Barrett Morgan (1-0), who pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth innings, struck out four and earned the win. The five Tiger pitchers combined to strike out 12 and walk only two.

In game one, third baseman Logan Smith had two of Cowley's six hits.

Northeast Texas starting pitcher Aiden Leonard allowed just one hit in four scoreless innings of work. However, Gary Rondeau, who came in to pitch the fifth inning, failed to retire any of the five batters he faced as he was tagged with the loss.

In Friday's second game, Cowley pounded out 12 hits en route to the 12-3 win.

Leftfielder Weston Thomas had a two-run single in a three-run first inning and finished the game 3-for-5 with four runs batted in. Seth Dandridge, Dax McCaskill, Carter Freeland, and Tanner Falwell added two hits apiece for the Tigers.

Kyler Zager (1-0) started for Cowley and tossed two scoreless innings on the mound. Blake DeLong, the last of five pitchers used by the Tigers, retired all six batters he faced to go along with three strikeouts, and Cowley pitchers combined for 11 punch-outs.

Kaleb Kuhn (0-1) took the loss for the Eagles after allowing three runs in the first inning.

In Saturday's finale, Cowley fell behind 1-0 before scoring 10 straight to win 10-1. The Tigers had 13 hits and four players with multiple hits in the victory. First baseman Quinn Groebl hit Cowley's first home run of the season and scored three times.

Sophomore Tallen Bagwell (1-0) started for Cowley and allowed one run in two innings pitched.

Keegan Robertson, Ty Parker, Cameron Mock, and Chance Acord followed with eight hitless innings of relief as five Tiger pitchers combined on the one-hitter.

"Multiple guys had good outings on the mound for us," Burroughs said.

Cowley will return to Texas to face second-ranked McLennan Community College for a three-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. in Waco, TX.

"We are excited to play another quality program," Burroughs said. "It will be interesting to see how we respond."

Score by inning:

Game one                      R H E

Cowley    0 0 0 0 5 0 0 – 5 6 4

NE Texas 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 – 4 7 2

Game two                              R H E

Cowley    3 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 1 – 12 12 1

NE Texas 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 – 3 7 3

Game three                            R H E

Cowley    0 0 1 0 1 0 4 1 3 – 10 13 0

NE Texas 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 1 0