Cowley baseball runs win streak to seven with wins at Labette
Getting a pair of strong starts on the mound and pounding out 12 extra base hits, the Cowley College baseball team swept a doubleheader vs. Labette on Thursday at Pittsburg State University. The Tigers run-ruled the Cardinals 13-2 in game one before winning game two 10-4.
Cowley, winners of seven games in a row and 12 of its past 13 contests, has scored 10 runs or more runs in each of its last 13 victories.
"It was good to win the doubleheader," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "We started the season a little slow offensively, but guys have made some good adjustments at the plate."
The Tigers are now 21-13 overall and in third place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a record of 11-3. Labette (5-23) has dropped 10 games in a row and is now 3-15 in the Jayhawk East.
In game one, Keaton Humphrey (4-1) had his third straight strong start on the mound as he pitched all five innings in the run-rule win, allowing five hits and one earned run.
Humphrey got plenty of run support with Easton Green, Drake Fittro, and Holden Groebl hitting solo home runs in the top of the fourth inning to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
Cowley would go on to score seven runs in the top of the fifth inning, with the only hits in the inning coming on RBI singles from Green and Josiah Sems as the Tigers took advantage of seven walks and a hit batter.
Logan Smith added his team-leading 10th home run of the season.
Game two was much more competitive as Labette got a three-run homer from Camden White in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3.
However, the Tigers quickly responded with five runs on five hits in the top of the sixth inning to go back in front 8-3.
Keegan Robertson struck out a season-high 11 batters over five innings as he improved his record to 2-1.
"We got good starts from Keaton and Keegan. They both located the fastball well," Burroughs said.
Jack Hamm and Lucas Weaver followed with two solid innings of relief apiece as the Tigers went on to the 10-4 win.
After the Cardinals pulled within 8-4, Cowley got a run-scoring single from Skyler Branam and an RBI double by Jace Patton in the eighth inning to cap the 10-4 win.
Fittro and Patton had three hits apiece, and the Tigers finished with 13 hits in the victory. All three of Patton's hits went for doubles, while Fittro doubled twice and added a triple, and is now batting .398 with 15 doubles and 35 runs batted in.
Labette's Alexis Martinez took the loss after allowing eight hits and eight runs in 5 2/3 innings.
The teams will wrap up the four-game series by playing a doubleheader in Arkansas City on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Score by inning:
Game one R H E
Cowley 2 1 0 3 7 0 – 13 9 2
Labette 0 0 0 0 2 0 – 2 5 1
Game two R H E
Cowley 0 1 2 0 0 5 0 2 0 – 10 13 1
Labette 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 – 4 8 2