Cowboys Pop Rose State in Region Tournament
JENKS – Connors State took advantage of Rose State errors and a two-run home run by Matt Oberste in the eighth inning to power the Cowboys past the Raiders 6-2 at Hinch Field Thursday in the opening round of the NJCAA Region II Baseball Tournament.
The Cowboys (38-18) will play Eastern State (34-20) at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the second round. Eastern advanced by defeating Northeastern A&M 3-0.
Connors’ Kyle Wormington (9-1) got the win for the Cowboys, going 8-innings, scattering five hits, striking out two and not walking a batter in a game that was delayed 1 hour, 40 minutes due to rain. Dustin Knight came in relief in the ninth, faced three Raider batters and struck out two.
“Pitching is the key in the tournament and Kyle due a great job for us today,” said interim head coach Bobby Foreman. “We had some timely hitting. Matt’s hit was a huge bat and we are really proud of what he has done. This is a good start for us,” said Foreman.
Cowboys scored twice in the first inning on a Rose State error and a ground ball out by Tyler Wheeler that pushed across a run. Rose closed the gap to 2-1 in the second on a home run by Blake Stringer and then tied the game in the third.
Connors took the lead for good in the sixth when Jacob Barton ripped a single down the first base line, moved to second on Eric Baker’s sacrifice bunt. Oberste was then hit by a pitched ball by Rose’s Calyn Younger.
Wheeler followed with a single left field scoring Barton and a throwing error by the Raiders’ leftfielder Sam Dellinger allowed Oberste to score, giving Connors a 4-2 lead.
The Cowboys put the game away in the eighth on Oberste’s 16th homer, scoring Cam’Ron Summers, who had walked, giving CSC a 6-2 advantage.
Click to share thisClick to share this