Cowley baseball team closes in on conference title with wins over KCK

The No. 3-ranked Cowley College baseball team moved within one win of at least a share of the conference title with wins of 5-1 and 7-1 over Kansas City Kansas Community College on Thursday in Arkansas City. The Tigers, winners of 10 games in a row, are now 41-8 overall and 26-4 in the Jayhawk East.

KCK (33-20) had its 10-game winning streak snapped and is now 17-13 in the conference.

"Our starting pitchers gave us an opportunity to win both games," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "As we say, it starts on the mound."

In game one, Cowley freshman Kylar Zagar and KCK starting pitcher Bryson Vawter were locked in a pitcher's duel with the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Blue Devil reliever Gavin Killion came on in place of Vawter with a runner at first base and out, and the Tigers pounced all over the pitching change as they went on to score four times in the inning, which was capped by a two-run homer by freshman centerfielder Drake Fittro.

Barrett Morgan struck out the side in the seventh inning to preserve the 5-1 win. Zagar improves to 9-1 after allowing only two hits and one run, while striking out six and walking one.

Freshman catcher Carter Freeland reached base all three times by going 2-for-2 with a walk.

Freshman Russ Smith followed Zagar's performance with another solid outing in game two, allowing only one run in 5 1/3 innings. Smith struck out six and did not walk a batter. Sophomore Mitchell Johnson followed Smith on the mound and struck out six in 2 2/3 innings of relief.

Lucas Weaver, the third and final pitcher used by Cowley, struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning as Tiger pitchers combined to strike out 14 and walk only one in the nightcap.

Dax McCaskill hit his team-leading 13^th home run of the season, and Logan Groh and Carter Freeland had two hits apiece and combined to score four runs.

"We had some guys at the bottom of the lineup step up and have some big hits for us," Burroughs said.

The teams will wrap up the four-game series by playing a doubleheader at Kansas City on Saturday at 1 p.m. Cowley can gain at least a share of the conference title with one victory and can win the title outright by sweeping the pair of games.

Johnson County is in second place in the conference with a record of 25-5.

"Kansas City is a tough place to play, but a challenge we are looking forward to," Burroughs said. "We want to try to win the conference title outright."

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

KCK    0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 3 0

Cowley 0 0 0 0 1 4 x – 5 5 0

Game two                          R H E

KCK    0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 1 10 0

Cowley 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 x – 7 8 0