Tiger baseball team opens the season by taking two of three from Northeast Texas

The No. 17-ranked Cowley College baseball team bounced back from a 10-4 loss in its season-opening game against Northeast Texas to defeat the Eagles 8-6 and 4-1 to win two of three games in the series.

On Friday, Cowley never led in the 10-4 loss of game one as the Eagles out-hit the Tigers 10-5. Dereck Martinez homered and drove in four for Northeast Texas. Luke Singleton (0-1) started on the mound for Cowley and allowed two runs in two innings pitched. All four Cowley pitchers used in the opener were scored against.

Kevin Schoneboom started on the mound for Northeast Texas and allowed three hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched. Cowley freshman Alex Conover homered in the loss, while fellow freshman Cade Baldridge went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in.

Conover was just a double shy of hitting for the cycle in Friday's second game as he went 3-for-4 with his second home run and two RBI.

Cody Airington started on the mound for Cowley and struck out five while allowing one hit and an unearned run in two innings of work. Iziah Salinas (1-0) followed with 2 1/3 innings of one-run relief, striking out six. Five Tiger pitchers combined to strike out 17 Eagle hitters.

Northeast Texas' Johnathon Gonzales allowed seven hits and five runs in four innings to take the loss.

In Saturday's final game, the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to the 4-1 win.

Mitchell Johnson started on the mound for Cowley and allowed one run in two innings pitched. Carson Moore followed with two scoreless innings before Cade Perkins and Ryuji Fukuda combined to allow only three hits and no runs in five innings pitched.

"We saw some good things on the weekend," Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs said. "We had some guys throw it really well, and we played pretty good defense. Obviously, we also saw some things to work on."

Kade Sheldon and Ian Luce had two hits apiece for the Tigers, while Conover walked three times and scored a run out of the leadoff spot. Conover finished the series 4-for-10 with two home runs, five runs scored, and three runs batted in. Baldridge also played well, finishing 4-for-14 with four runs batted in during the three games.

"Alex had a good series, and we had a lot of guys contribute," Burroughs said.

Dalton Hill took the loss for Northeast Texas as he was chased from the game after only one inning.

Cowley is now 2-1 on the season. The Tigers will play three games at Panola College beginning Friday at 1 p.m. in Carthage, TX.

"We have a young team, so this will be a tough test," Burroughs said. "I look forward to competing against another quality team."

Score by inning:

Game one                         R H E

NE Texas 2 0 0 2 4 2 0 – 10 10 1

Cowley    0 1 0 0 2 0 1 – 4 5 1

Game two                             R H E

NE Texas 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 – 6 9 0

Cowley    2 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 x – 8 9 2

Game three                           R H E

NE Texas 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 6 3

Cowley    3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 x – 4 7 0