Cowley baseball to play for NJCAA World Series title with ace signed to Wichita State
Led by an ace pitcher from Derby who is committed to Wichita State, the Cowley County baseball team will play in the NJCAA Division I World Series national championship game on Saturday night.
Since losing its opening game of the national tournament on May 28, Cowley has won four straight elimination games, including Thursday’s 16-8 victory over Walters State, to advance to the championship from the loser’s bracket. Cowley will play either Walters State or Central Arizona at 8 p.m. Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Grant Adler receives the starting nod with a chance to win Cowley’s first national championship since the back-to-back titles from 1997 and 1998 on the line. The former Derby standout, who has signed to pitch next season at Wichita State, has a 12-1 record this season with a 3.18 earned run average and 78 strikeouts in 82 innings of work.
Cowley has had a flare for the dramatics toward the end of its season, as the Tigers won four straight games in walk-off fashion in Manhattan to claim its third straight Region VI championship on May 20. Cowley then lost its opening game at the NJCAA World Series, 8-2 to College of Central Florida, which forced the team to work its way through four straight elimination games.
The uphill challenge was completed late Thursday in the run-rule victory over Walters State where all nine hitters finished with at least one hit and eight batters drove in at least one run. Andover Central graduate Trey DeGarmo, a starting outfielder, finished 3-for-5 with two RBI, while second baseman Haden O’Toole, an Arkansas City graduate, added a hit and two RBI.
Cowley has been led this season by lead-off hitter Bryce Madron, who is batting .421 with 19 home runs, 49 extra-base hits, 71 RBI, 50 walks and 24 stolen bases.
The Tigers (54-10) are one win away from setting a program record for most wins in a season, as they have won their fifth straight division championship in the Jayhawk Conference and their fifth Region VI title in the last six tournaments. It is Cowley’s fourth appearance in the last five NJCAA World Series, while it will play for its first national title in more than two decades under head coach Darren Burroughs.
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