Cowley baseball back in NJCAA World Series for first time since ’09

There’s having a healthy respect for your opponent, and then there’s the thought process Cowley College coach Dave Burroughs took into his first NJCAA College World Series in 1997.

“I pretty much thought every team we were going to play was the ’27 Yankees,” said Burroughs, who is in his 29th season at Cowley. “And then we lost our first game that year, I got everybody together back at the hotel and I was like ‘You know what, guys? I was wrong. We’re as good as anybody here.’

“Then there was this moment where everybody kind of looked around the room and they were like ‘Really, you think?’ And I didn’t just think it at that point. I knew it.”

The results were hard to argue with — Cowley won its first national title that year, repeated as champion in 1998 and is back in Grand Junction, Colo., this season for the World Series for the first time since 2009 after winning a cutthroat Region VI. It’s the seventh trip to the World Series for Burroughs and Cowley (44-16), which opens play at 8:30 p.m. Sunday against No. 2 San Jacinto (46-10).

“I want our guys to enjoy this experience, to have fun and take all of this in,” Burroughs said. “But I also want them to understand that playing Sunday night, in front of 12,000 people, is something they need to be ready for.”

The Tigers, runners-up in the Jayhawk East, made their way to Grand Junction’s Suplizio Field in a year where they weren’t even in the Top 25 headed into the Region VI Tournament. That’s after taking a 51-3 record, NJCAA Player of the Year and a No. 1 ranking into last year’s tournament and coming up short … and falling again in 2013, with a top 10 ranking headed into Region VI.

“You don’t take it for granted because our region is so tough, it’s just a beast,” Burroughs said. “Walking away all those years empty-handed … I can guarantee you it was not because we weren’t trying.”

Cowley will start Jayhawk East pitcher of the Year Carson Larue (11-1, 2.01 ERA) against San Jacinto. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State was fifth in the nation with 123 strikeouts.

San Jacinto outfielder Max Wood leads the team with a .390 batting average and 47 RBIs. San Jacinto pitcher Colten Schmidt is 11-1 with 96 strikeouts and a 1.45 ERA.

Cowley has four All-Jayhawk East picks in Larue, first baseman Caleb Eldridge, shortstop Abdiel Alicea and pitcher Tucker White.

“I think we’re all pretty excited to be here, but we’re all pretty loose, too,” said Larue, a Dewey, Okla., native who has signed with the University of Houston. “(Burroughs) has been making sure that we have a good time and enjoy it, but the message is also to get focused when it’s time to be focused. Don’t let anything distract you in that moment. It was a battle this season and there was some rough patches, but we started playing our best baseball at the right time.”

Cowley has won 15 straight games, with its last lost coming on April 21 to Highland.

“It can’t just be 24/7 baseball,” Burrough said. “I know the relationships I’ve built with people in Grand Junction have been some of the most important in my life, and the things I’ve experienced here have been things that have stuck with me in a big, big way. That’s what I want for these players this year. To enjoy it and get the most they possibly can out of it.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Cowley baseball back in NJCAA World Series for first time since ’09."