Tigers’ rally for sweep of Labette, run win streak to nine

Cowley (23-13), winners of nine games in a row, improves its record to 13-3 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers have won 12 conference games in a row and are in third place in the Jayhawk East, trailing Johnson County (20-0) and Kansas City (18-2).

In Saturday's opener, freshman Grady Hoke struck out 11 in a four-hit shutout of the Cardinals. Hoke improved his record to 4-2 while lowering his earned run average to 4.11.

"Grady located his pitches well and was efficient with all of his pitches," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

All eight of the Tigers' runs came in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Unable to manage a hit off Labette starting pitcher Diego Torres through the game's first three innings, Cowley got a three-run homer from third baseman Logan Smith and a two-run blast from Holden Groebl to chase Torres from the game as the Tigers plated eight runs on six hits in the fourth inning.

Creed Muirhead and Skyler Branam had two hits apiece in the victory.

In game two, Cowley faced deficits of 5-0 and 6-1 before Easton Green's two-run double capped a four-run bottom of the third inning to pull the Tigers within 6-5. After Green tripled and scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth, Labette went back in front on a solo home run by Garrett Watson and a two-run homer by Adiesel Berrios to lead 9-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The Tigers continued to claw back, getting a two-run single from Branam in a three-run bottom of the seventh that tied the game at 9-9.

Smith went on to triple leading off the bottom of the eighth inning and came around to score the game-winning run on a one-out double by Drake Fittro.

Riley Lile, the fourth Cowley pitcher used in the nightcap, struck out four in two scoreless innings to earn the win. Lile is now 4-1 with a 2.37 ERA.

Chance Acord started on the mound for the Tigers and allowed seven hits and four earned runs in five innings pitched. The right-hander struck out 10, and Cowley's pitching combined to strike out 16 batters and walk only one.

"We did not play very good defense, and it's hard to pitch over that," Burroughs said.

Green led Cowley's 16-hit attack by going 3-for-3 with a double, triple, three runs batted in, and two runs scored. Smith also played well, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles.

"We had some big hits. It was good to see us come back and find a way to win that final game," Burroughs said.

The Tigers will play a nine-inning game at No. 4-ranked Cloud County (32-4) on Tuesday at 2 p.m. before opening a four-game series against Neosho County by hosting the Panthers in a doubleheader on Thursday at 1 p.m. The T-Birds lead the Jayhawk West with a record of 17-3.

"Cloud has got a really good club. We will need to pitch it well and play good defense," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one                   R H E

Labette 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 4 6

Cowley 0 0 0 8 0 0 x – 8 8 0

Game two                          R H E

Labette 2 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 – 9 10 0

Cowley 0 1 4 0 1 0 3 1 x – 10 16 2