Bats carry Tiger baseball team to a pair of wins over Neosho County

Pounding out 16 extra-base hits on Thursday at Tiger Baseball Field in Arkansas City, games in a row, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College baseball team swept a doubleheader against Neosho County by scores of 10-8 and 13-3.

Cowley, winners of six games in a row, improves its record to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Neosho falls to 8-5 and 2-4 in the conference.

Down 1-0 after one inning of play in game one, Cowley got the run back in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Carter Freeland. The Tigers were not done there as Logan Smith singled home Seth Dandridge to put Cowley in front 2-1 after two innings.

Dax McCaskill belted a solo homer in the bottom of the third inning, increasing Cowley's lead to 3-1.

Freshman Russ Smith started on the mound for Cowley and, after allowing a run in the first inning, surrendered back-to-back doubles and three straight hits to begin the fourth inning as the Panthers chased him with the score tied 3-3.

Smith was relieved on the mound by sophomore Delton Roberts with a runner at fistt and nobody out. After recording the first out of the inning, Roberts surrendered a two-run homer to Jamon Beck, putting Neosho in front 5-3.

McCaskill's second home run of the game, leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, pulled Cowley within 5-4. Kade Sheldon followed with a double and scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Dawson Williams, tying the game at 5-5.

Baron Lynch, a sophomore from Wichita, KS,

Luke Schimmels came on in relief of Roberts with a runner at second and one out in the top of the sixth inning and surrendered a two-out single to Beck that scored Luke Briley with the go-ahead run as the Panthers went back in front, 6-5.

Pinch hitter Weston Thomas hit a one-out bloop double to get into scoring position for the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth and advanced to third on an error by the second baseman on a ground ball by Cade Baldridge. Ian Luce followed with a single that scored Thomas to tie the game at 6-6.

It was then time for McCaskill to shine again as he nearly missed a third home run; this time, his ground-rule double scored Baldridge with the go-ahead run and chased Lynch from the game.

The Tigers would tack on three more insurance runs off Neosho reliever Will Burger to lead 9-6.

Those runs would turn out to be valuable as Schimmels remained in the game and allowed a pair of runs to score and had the tying run at the plate before he got Reed Haneberg to strike out looking to end the game.

McCaskill finished 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and three runs batted in. Kade Sheldon added three hits and a pair of doubles for the Tigers.

In game two, Cowley got a two-run triple from Luce in a four-run second inning and went in front 6- on a two-run homer by Weston Thomas in the bottom of the third.

A two-run homer by Dawson Williams capped a three-run fourth inning as the Tigers lead grew to 9-1.

The teams traded two-run innings in the fifth and sixth as Cowley went to the seventh inning with an 11-3 lead. Cowley would tack on runs in the seventh and eighth innings to run-rule the Panthers 13-3.

Nine of Cowley's 12 hits in game two went for extra bases. Thomas led the way by going 3-for-4 with a homer and two doubles as he scored three runs and drove in two. Luce continued to swing the bat well as he went 2-for-4 with a double, triple, and two RBI.

Kyler Zager went the first four innings on the mound for the Tigers and struck out seven while allowing five hits and only one run.

Lucas Weaver and Barrett Morgan combined to pitch the final three innings and struck out five without allowing a run.

Neosho's Henry Barney took the loss as he was charged with eight hits and six runs in three innings.

The teams will play a doubleheader in Chanute on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Score by inning:

Game one                    R H E

Neosho 1 0 0 4 0 1 0 – 6 8 3

Cowley  0 2 1 0 2 5 x – 10 12 0

Game two                        R H E

Neosho 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 – 3 10 1

Cowley  0 4 2 4 0 2 1 1 x 13 12 -0