Tiger baseball team gets right with series sweep of Highland
Having not won more than two games in a row entering its series vs. Highland, the Cowley College baseball team swept the four-game series against the Scotties to run its winning streak to a season-high five in a row. The Tigers hit 10 home runs in Thursday’s doubleheader sweep at Highland and added six more long balls in a pair of wins on Saturday in Ark City.
Cowley won Thursday's games by scores of 14-3 and 24-2 before winning on Saturday, 16-3 and 13-1. The Tigers have scored 88 runs during their five-game win streak to improve to 14-12 overall and 5-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.
"This series featured a combination of a lot of good things," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.
Highland, losers of seven in a row, is now 5-22 and 1-11 in the conference.
Nine Tigers homered in the four-game series, with Jace Patton homering twice in Thursday's opener and three times in the series. Easton Green also homered in three of the four games.
"We had the confidence level rise for a lot of guys throughout the series," Burroughs said.
Hudson Roberts also played well, going 7-for-13 with two home runs and 12 runs batted in. Quinn Groebl went 5-for-13 with two home runs and 11 RBI as Cowley out-scored Highland 67-9 in the four-game series.
Isaac Worden (4-1) earned the win in game one, allowing four hits and two runs in four innings pitched.
Keaton Humphrey (2-1) shined on the mound in Cowley's 24-2 win of game two, striking out 10 and walking none while allowing two hits and one run in six innings.
"That was good to see from Keaton," Burroughs said. "He had been scuffling and needed an outing like that for his confidence."
On Saturday, Grady Hoke (2-2) got the start on the mound for the Tigers in the opener and allowed two earned runs in four innings, while striking out six and walking one.
Chance Acord gave Cowley another strong start in the finale, allowing one hit and no earned runs over five innings of work. Acord (1-3) struck out nine and walked three while earning his first win of the season.
Cowley will play at No. 24-ranked Barton on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The Cougars are 21-7 on the season.
"We have a long way to go, but the guys are starting to believe," Burroughs said. "We will test ourselves again vs. Barton and give some guys another opportunity to contribute on the mound."
Score by inning:
Game one R H E
Cowley 1 5 1 0 0 7 – 14 10 0
Highland 1 0 1 0 0 1 – 3 7 0
Game two R H E
Cowley 0 4 6 0 11 0 3 – 24 18 0
Highland 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 2 3 2
Game three R H E
Highland 1 1 1 0 0 – 3 7 0-
Cowley 7 2 3 4 x – 16 12 1
Game four R H E
Highland 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 1 2
Cowley 5 4 0 1 2 1 x – 13 11 2