Cowley baseball snaps skid in doubleheader split at KCK
Coming off being swept in a four-game series against conference champion Johnson County, the Cowley College baseball team got shut out 2-0 against Kansas City Kansas Community College in the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday in Kansas City, KS. Putting the loss behind them, the Tigers put an emphatic end to their five-game skid with a 13-2, seven-inning run-rule victory over the Blue Devils in the nightcap.
Cowley remains two games behind Kansas City for second place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Tigers (32-20) are 21-9 in the conference, while KCK (37-17) is 23-7.
In Thursday's opening game, Kansas City pitcher Will Kennedy took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before the Tigers' Drake Fittro singled with one out in the inning. Skyler Branam followed with a single to advance Fittro to third. However, Kennedy got Smith to ground into a double play to end the threat.
Kennedy would toss a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish off the complete game two-hit shutout in game one. Kennedy struck out seven and walked one.
"We hit some balls hard, but they were right at people," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.
Keaton Humphrey got the start on the mound for the Tigers and allowed runs in the second and third innings before settling down to allow only four hits and two runs in six innings pitched.
Game two was all Cowley as the Tigers scored a single run in each of the first three innings to lead 3-0 and chased KCK starting pitcher Dylan Blazer from the game in a six-run fourth inning to lead 9-0. Easton Green's two-run double highlighted the six-run fourth.
The Tigers scored three more runs in the fifth inning and got a solo home run from Hudson Roberts in the seventh inning as they went on to the 13-2 victory.
Green went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in, and third baseman Logan Smith went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two driven in.
Sophomore Drake Fittro had a pair of doubles to give him 25 on the season, leaving him only one double away from tying Garrett Benge's school record for doubles in a season.
Keagan Robertson gave Cowley another strong start on the mound in game two, allowing five hits and one run in 4 2/3 innings while striking out four and walking none.
"We got two good starts out of our starting pitchers," Burroughs said.
Jack Hamm followed with 2 1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run while striking out four.
The teams will wrap up the four-game series by playing a doubleheader in Arkansas City on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Cowley would need to sweep both games on Saturday to tie the Blue Devils for second place in the conference and would own the tiebreaker over KCK.
"Saturday will be a big day," Burroughs said. "KCK will do everything they can to get a split of the doubleheader. It will come down to who wants it more."
Score by inning:
Game one R H E
Cowley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 1
KCK 0 1 1 0 0 0 x – 2 4 1
Game two R H E
Cowley 1 1 1 6 3 0 1 0 – 13 13 0
KCK 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 – 2 10 1