No. 5-ranked T-Birds slip past Tigers 11-9 in midweek contest

The T-Birds, who are in first place in the Jayhawk West, are now 33-4 on the season. Cowley, which is in third place in the Jayhawk East, had its nine-game win streak snapped and is now 23-14.

On Tuesday, Cloud County's Jett Wahlmeier allowed one hit while striking out the side in the top of the first inning.

The T-Birds got on the board first on Kale Koch's two-run double off Peyton Gosch in the bottom of the second inning.

Drake Fittro pulled Cowley within 2-1 by belting a solo home run in the top of the third inning. Wahlmeier would finish the inning before exiting after allowing two hits and one run in three innings pitched. Wahlmeier struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Cloud County would get a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Joey Marino led off with a single, advanced to second and third on a pair of passed balls, and came around to score on a groundout by Evan Gunn.

Gosch went four innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs. The right-hander struck out two and walked four.

T-Bird reliever Cooper Tannahill worked around a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth inning but was lifted with the bases loaded and only one out in the top of the fifth inning. Sam Brummond came on to pitch and got Fittro to ground into a force out, which scored Quinn Groebl. Skyler Branam then reached on an error by the second baseman, which scored Logan Smith the game-tying run.

However, Cloud went back in front, 6-3, on a three-run homer by Kellan Burke off Tiger reliever Jake Hobbs with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Cowley answered back with a six-run sixth inning to lead 9-6. The Tigers benefited from five walks in the inning while also getting a two-run single from Fittro.

Unfortunately, the lead would not stand up as Cloud County got a solo home run from Nolan Green in the bottom of the sixth to close within 9-7 before Vasya Seymour hit a three-run homer and Lucas Laukkanen added a solo home run in the four-run eighth to cap the 11-9 win.

Fittro led the Tigers in the loss by going 3-for-5 with four runs batted in and a stolen base out of the leadoff spot. Cameron Mock (1-1), the fifth and final Cowley pitcher to see action, was charged with the loss.

Bradley Janes, the fifth of six pitchers used by Cloud, earned the win by tossing a scoreless seventh and eighth innings to go along with four strikeouts.

Cowley will return home to play a doubleheader vs. Neosho County on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Arkansas City. The Panthers (15-21) have lost 10 straight games and are 6-10 in the conference.

Score by inning:                R H E

Cowley 0 0 1 0 2 6 0 0 0 – 9 8 0

Cloud   0 2 0 1 3 1 0 4 x – 11 12 1