Tigers take three of four from Johnson County to move into a tie atop the conference

After splitting a pair of games at No. 7-ranked Johnson County on Thursday, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College baseball team swept a pair of games against the Cavaliers on Saturday in Arkansas City to move into a tie atop the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division standings.

On Thursday in Overland Park, Cowley won 8-6 before losing the second game 1-0. On Saturday, the Tigers defeated Johnson County 8-2 and then walked off the Cavaliers 1-0 in the nightcap.

Cowley (19-5) and Johnson County (22-9) are now tied for first place in the conference with records of 9-3.

"We competed hard," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "This was a step in the right direction for us."

Cowley's Dawson Williams and Kade Sheldon drove in three runs apiece in the 8-6 win of Thursday's opener. Freshman Russ Smith started on the mound and earned the win by tossing 4 1/3 innings. Smith allowed four hits and four runs while striking out six and walking two.

Johnson's Josiah Golden allowed four runs in four innings.

An error in game two allowed Johnson County to score the game's only run in the second inning. Three Tiger errors led to their downfall.

Kyler Zager was the hard-luck loser, allowing just an unearned run in 5 1/3 innings pitched.

The Cavaliers' Sam Novotny and Christian Bobzin combined on a seven-hit shutout of the Tigers.

Cowley's Cade Baldridge and Ian Luce had two hits apiece.

With the games moved to Arkansas City on Saturday, Cowley got a grand slam home run from freshman Tanner Fallwell in an 8-2 win over the Cavaliers.

"Tanner's grand slam got us kickstarted," Burroughs said.

Dax McCaskill tripled and drove in a pair of runs, and Tallen Bagwell allowed two runs in four innings to earn the win. Lucas Weaver and Barrett Morgan finished the game with three hitless innings of relief.

In Saturday's finale, Johnson County's Denton Biller and Cowley's Keegan Robertson were locked in a pitcher's duel, with Biller shutting the Tigers out through 5 2/3 innings and Robertson allowing only a third-inning run as the Cavaliers led 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

"We got four good starts on the mound, which gave us a chance to win," Burroughs said.

Cowley would tie the game at 1-1 without the benefit of a hit as a pair of Johnson County relievers combined to walk in a run in the eighth.

After Tiger reliever Luke Schimmels tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, Johnson County's Ashton Hartwig walked the bases loaded before Jackson Downing came in to face Ian Luce. Downing promptly walked Luce to score Logan Smith with the winning run.

Cowley had only two hits in the victory but walked 14 times.

The Tigers will remain home to play a single, nine-inning game against Cloud County on Monday at 2 p.m. The T-Birds are 20-8 on the season and in second place in the Jayhawk West with a record of 9-3.

"Cloud will give us another good test," Burroughs said. "We will give some additional guys an opportunity to pitch that did not get to over the weekend."

Score by inning:

Game one                       R H E

Cowley  0 0 3 0 2 3 0 0 – 8 9 1

Johnson 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 – 8 6 0

Game two                          R H E

Cowley  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 7 3

Johnson 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 x – 1 8 0

Game three                   R H E

Johnson 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 – 2 8 2

Cowley  0 0 5 0 1 2 x – 8 7 0

Game four                          R H E

Johnson 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 5 1

Cowley  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 – 2 2 1