Tigers ride pitching to wins over Neosho County

Fresh off a no-hitter by Brigden Parker on Saturday, the Cowley College baseball team nearly had a second no-hitter as Chance Cox was within three outs of another no-no before settling for a 3-2 win over Neosho County in the first game of a doubleheader played Thursday in Arkansas City. Cade Perkins followed with another strong outing in game two as the Tigers beat the Panthers 6-2.

"We got good starts from Chance and Cade and scored enough runs to win the doubleheader," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said.

Cowley (21-11), winners of seven games in a row, remains just one-game back of conference-leading Johnson County (16-3) with a conference record of 15-3.

In Thursday's opener, Cox walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, and then Neosho's Brooks Miller broke up the no-hitter with a double. Drew Duckhorn came on in relief of Cox and allowed the inherited runners to score before striking out pinch hitter Davan Brady to end the threat.

Cox struck out five and walked three while allowing just one hit and one earned run in six-plus innings as he improved his record to 3-0 on the season.

Neosho starting pitcher Brady Pacha allowed six hits, four walks, and three runs in five innings.

Rightfielder Cooper Schwindt had two of Cowley's six hits and had a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning.

In game two, Neosho scored a run off Tiger starting pitcher Cade Perkins in the top of the first inning. However, sophomore Ty Hammack got the run back in the bottom half of the inning by belting his team-leading eighth home run of the season.

Perkins (2-2) settled down on the mound and pitched into the eighth inning, striking out seven and allowing just two runs.

Hammack began Cowley's three-run fifth inning by singling home Trayson Miller, stealing second, and coming around to score on a single by Cole Martin. Schwindt added a run-scoring single to increase Cowley's lead to 5-1.

"Cooper has been swinging the bat really good lately," Burroughs said.

The teams would trade runs in the eighth as Cowley held on for the 6-2 win.

Hammack went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored while batting out of the leadoff spot. Cole Abbott came on in relief of Perkins and retired all four batters he faced to go along with three strikeouts.

"Cole was outstanding," Burroughs said. "He studies his opponent and has a plan when he goes out there."

Joey Faber (3-2) was saddled with the loss for the Panthers after giving up five hits and five runs in five innings pitched.

The Panthers are now 24-9 overall and 9-5 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The teams will complete the four-game series by playing a doubleheader in Chanute Saturday at 1 p.m.

"Neosho will throw another couple of good arms at us, so we will have to play well to win," Burroughs said.

Score by inning:

Game one                    R H E

Neosho 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 – 2 1 0

Cowley 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 – 3 6 1

Game two                           R H E

Neosho 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 2 5 0

Cowley  1 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 x – 6 9 1