Tigers blast Seward to advance to Region VI tournament in Salina

Defeating 11^th-seed Seward County for the second straight day by an identical 11-1 score, the No. 4-seed Cowley College baseball team won the best-of-three sub-regional played Thursday in Arkansas City. With the victory, the Tigers advance to face fifth-seed Hutchinson Community College (39-19) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, KS.

On Thursday, Cowley scored five runs on five hits in the bottom of the second inning to lead Seward 5-0. The score would remain that way before Seward scored its lone run off Cowley starting pitcher Russ Smith in the top of the fifth inning.

The Tigers answered with three runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to run-rule the Saints 11-1.

Smith allowed only three hits and one run in six innings, while striking out nine and walking one. The right-hander is now 8-1 on the season.

"It all begins with pitching, and Russ did a good job of letting our hitters settle in," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

Freshman second baseman Logan Groh had three of the Tigers' 11 hits, while driving in a pair of runs.

"Logan has been swinging the bat well and had a big day for us," Burroughs said.

Cowley improves to 42-10, while Seward ends the season with a record of 26-31.

The Tigers will now focus on the Region Tournament and Hutchinson, a team they defeated in both regular-season meetings. However, the Blue Dragons have won four games in a row and 11 of their past 15.

"Hutchinson is a traditionally good program, so we should not need any extra motivation," Burroughs said. "Every game at the tournament will be a dog fight."

Score by inning:           R H E

Seward 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 1 4 2

Cowley 0 5 0 0 0 3 3 – 11 11 2