Cowley hands Garden City just their third loss

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Arkansas City, KS-As well as Garden City finished their first game with Marshalltown on Monday, is just how much things flipped in their finale with perennial-power Cowley.

The Tigers hit two home runs and scored in every inning but the sixth en route to a 15-4 victory over the Broncbusters at Tigers Ball Park.

"We gave up 12 free bases," Garden City Coach Chris Finnegan said. "You're not going to beat a good team like that giving them free bases."

The Broncbusters equaled a season high with three errors, the first of which allowed Cowley to score their first run of the game in the first. They added an RBI fielder's choice by Isaac Muncy that made it 2-0. The Tigers tacked on two more in the second before taking advantage of Dakota Finley's error at third in the third that eventually led to two more runs crossing and a 6-0 advantage.

However, the crushing blow came in the fourth. With one on and two out, Daniel DeSimone smoked 1-1 fastball over the wall in left, putting Cowley on top 8-0. Later in the inning, Blaze Brothers drew a bases-loaded walk that bumped the lead to 9-0.

Garden City finally got on the board in the top of fifth, getting back-to-back, two-out, RBI singles by Dyan Rodriguez and Jake Barber that pulled the Broncbusters within six, 9-3. But Cowley came right back in the bottom half when Cody Milligan ripped an RBI triple and Muncy added a run-scoring single.

After Garden City got a run in the seventh on Griffin Brunson's RBI hit, the Tigers ended the game with one fatal blow in the bottom of the inning when Mac McCroskey hit a three-run bomb off of Steve Ramos, inducing the run rule.

Connery O'Donnell took the loss for Garden City, lasting only two innings while giving up four runs. Malachi Crone didn't fair much better, surrendering five runs on four hits in 1.2 innings.

Andrew Roach picked up the win for Cowley, holding the Broncbusters hitless in two innings of work.