WICHITA, Kan. – In one of the crazier games the Butler baseball squad played in the 2024 season, they fell one run short as the Cowley Tigers won 17-16 in nine innings in a Plains District Tournament elimination game on Friday afternoon at Eck Stadium.
The Grizzlies season comes to an end with a 33-27 record as Cowley (43-17) advances to take on Hutchinson in another elimination contest on Friday evening.
The game kicked off at 10 a.m. and lasted three and a half hours with both offenses on full display. The top of the first inning saw some controversy with umpires meeting for nearly 20 minutes after Cowley head coach Darren Burroughs questioned a ruling as Butler sent a pinch hitter up to bat in place of its scheduled designated hitter the first time through the lineup. With the issue resolved in favor of the Grizzlies, Butler jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first scoring runs off a Taber Stokes RBI single up the middle, a successful double steal that saw Stokes take home and a wild pitch scoring Charlie Marcantel.
Cowley instantly answered with three runs in the bottom of the first tying the game 3-3.
The Grizzlies kept the offense going with three runs in the second. Marcantel singled up the middle scoring two runs while Tyler Butash laid down a sacrifice bunt scoring Stokes to make it 6-3.
The Tigers sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, plating 11 runs off five hits, four walks and three hit batters as Butler used three pitchers in the frame. The Grizzlies finally escaped the frame trailing 14-6.
Butler then ripped off nine consecutive runs, taking a 15-14 lead with four runs each in the fourth and fifth and a lone run in the sixth. Cole Murrell got a pinch hit in the fourth with the bases loaded and no outs and sent a ball into the parking lot beyond right field for a grand slam making it 14-10. The fifth saw Anibal Rivera single up the middle scoring CJ Reid with Rivera later scoring on a wild pitch to make it 14-12. Murrell then stepped to the plate and hit his second home run in as many at bats, a two-run blast again to right field that tied the game 14-14.
BSB vs. Cowley | T5 | Plains District Tourney
— Butler Grizzlies (@ButlerGrizzlies) May 17, 2024
Cole Murrell...... are you serious?!?!
His second home run in two innings is a two-run �� that ties the game 14-14 in the fifth#RoarGrizz�� pic.twitter.com/I7wJUdhHJ7
A sacrifice fly from Reid in the sixth saw Butler take a 15-14 lead, its first lead since the top of the second.
Cowley plated a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie it 15-15. Both teams went three up three down in the seventh and entered the eighth still tied at 15.
Butler stranded two base runners in the eighth, squandering a chance to take another lead late in the game. Cowley used two runs in the bottom of the eighth, one off a Butler throwing error and another off an RBI single, to take a two-run lead into the ninth.
Down to their last bats in the ninth trailing by two, Butler was able to push a run home on an RBI single through the right side by Marcantel with two outs. The next batter struck out swinging, ending the game 17-16.
Tate Rico tossed 2.2 innings of one run baseball for Butler out of the bullpen. Jack Haag (L, 0-3) suffered the loss allowing three runs across 3.0 innings, walking four and striking one. His first two innings of work he held the Tigers off the board but they broke through in the eighth. Austin Bagnall got the start on the mound for Butler and threw an inning allowing seven runs on five hits. Murrell drove in a career-high six runs with his two home runs. Marcantel was 2-5 with three RBI. Rivera finished 4-6 with an RBI. Stokes stole three bases while he and Reid turned four double plays on the afternoon helping the Grizzlies out of a few jams.
Offensively, Cowley was led by Jadyn McNealy and Dane Harvey who each registered four hits with McNealy having six RBI.
Starter Luke Singleton threw 3.0 innings allowing seven earned runs and walking six. Tallen Bagwell (W, 4-1) picked up the win throwing the final 3.0 innings giving up just the one run in the ninth, striking out four.
Cowley outhit Butler 15-13 with each team finishing with two errors.
Eight-seed Butler went 1-2 in the 2024 Plains District Tournament with a 9-3 loss to 1-seed Johnson County on Wednesday, a 9-0 win over 4-seed Cloud County on Thursday and the 17-16 loss to 3-seed Cowley on Friday.
