Cowley forces Region VI showdown

The nation's most dominant junior college baseball team is taking even better to the role of underdog.

Cowley College didn't build up much suspense by winning 49 of 52 games before the Region VI tournament at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. But the Tigers are turning into the ultimate dark horse with the way they've climbed out of the consolation bracket.

Cowley has rallied for three straight wins, including two on Monday. Its second, a 4-3 victory over Dodge City, forced a winner-take-all championship game Tuesday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Earlier Monday, top-ranked Cowley (54-4) overcame a 7-0 deficit to defeat Fort Scott 9-8 in 10 innings to earn a spot in the championship. On Sunday, the Tigers scored two in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Butler 6-5.

"Our coach (Dave Burroughs) just tells us that you want to look down the road 20 years from now and say that you overcame something, you took care of business when you needed to," said Cowley pitcher Parker Rigler, who pitched a complete game against Dodge City. "That's what we decided to do today. A lot of guys in the lineup, they did the job when they needed to."

Dodge City led 3-1 after scoring three runs in the top of the third. Rigler struck out the first five Conquistadors batters but Jorden Fields led off the third with a home run, the first of six straight batters to reach base. Rigler walked Frankie Valley with the bases loaded before Leno Ramirez's single drove in Dodge City's third run of the inning.

Rigler quickly rediscovered his command of the game, retiring three in a row after Ramirez's hit and facing the minimum 13 batters over the next 4 1/3 innings before Dodge City, now trailing, threatened in the eighth.

"They were hitting good pitches, but they were also hitting mistakes," Rigler said. "I just tried to focus, make sure I hit my spots and make the pitches I needed to, and it ended up working out for me."

Rigler completed the win in 147 pitches, but those easy middle innings may have helped his stamina, as he threw 44 pitches over innings 4-7.

Cowley made sure Rigler's significant workload wasn't in vain by scoring three against Dodge City starter Layne Downing to take a 4-3 lead in the seventh.

After No. 9 hitter Abdiel Alicea hit a two-run homer to tie it, the go-ahead run scored after reliever Matthew Perea's wild pitch moved Stevie Thompson to third base, and Thompson came home on an RBI groundout by Garrett Benge.

Dodge City got runners to second and third with two outs in the eighth, but Valle was thrown out at home while trying to score on a pitch that got away from Cowley catcher Dillon White. In the ninth, Dodge City got a two-out single before Rigler retired Colbey Madewell on a groundout.

Rigler maintained his high velocity and maximum effort throughout his ninth complete game this season. He took the loss in Butler's upset of Cowley in the first round but avoided it when one of the nation's top offenses picked him up with late clutch hitting.

"It all started with the first game we were out here," Rigler said. "I didn't bring my best stuff and had a rough game, and the bats didn't get started as early as we would like. We dug ourselves a hole, but this team has a lot of integrity and we're going to find a way to get it done."

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Cowley forces Region VI showdown."