Cowley College lived up to its No. 4 ranking in the NJCAA Division I national baseball poll Thursday with a 5-1, 3-2 sweep of Kansas City Kansas Community College at Arkansas City.
The Blue Devils (14-5), who had a 12-game winning streak snapped, get a chance to avenge those losses Saturday when they host Cowley in a home re-match starting at 1 p.m.
Cowley built up an early 5-0 lead in the 7-inning 5-1opener before Tiger hurlers combined to strike out 18 Blue Devils in the 3-2, 9-inning nightcap.
A two-out, two-run double by Caleb Eldridge in the bottom of the first was the big blow in Cowley’s opening 5-1 win. The blow capped a 3-run first and the Tigers added two more runs in the third on singles by Abdiel Alicea and Bryce Fischer and Eldridge’s second double and third RBI. Carson LaRue scattered eight hits and struck out four for the win.
The Blue Devils’ only run came in the fourth on a walk, a single by Ryan Fisher and an outfield error. Albert Woodard had a double and two singles and Conor Behrens and Malone Smith two singles for the Blue Devils, who managed to put two runners on base in just three innings. Dustin Eby gave up six hits and struck out three in absorbing the loss.
Cowley also built a 3-0 lead in the nightcap and then rode the pitching of Tucker White, who struck out 14 in six innings, and reliever Scott Engler, who fanned four in two innings. The Tigers scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Alicea doubled in the first run in the third; K.K. Daniel doubled and scored on Jacob Means’ two-out single in the fourth; and Steve Thompson tripled in the fifth and scored on a ground ball.
KCKCC’s two runs came in the seventh off Mason McAlister. Malone Smith singled and scored on Drew Holtgrieve’s double. Easton Fortuna’s ground ball scored Holtgrieve, the only Blue Devil with more than one hit. Brandon Reid gave up just six hits in 6.2 innings before Avery Fliger closed with 1.3 inning of one-hit relief.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.