State Bound!!: Cowboys return to state tournament for third straight year

The Abilene Cowboys baseball team impressively won their home regional tournament on Tuesday, and once again advanced to the State Tournament in Salina for the third straight year.

The Cowboys as they have all season rode the reliable arms of their two undefeated senior pitchers in Kyson Becker, and Stocton Timbrook.

Abilene the #1 seed in the 4A West division opened with a dominating 12-1 six inning win over the #16 seed Winfield Vikings. Becker would earn the complete game victory as he limited Winfield to just one run on three hits.

In the Regional Championship game, the Cowboys would play and defeat a very good Mulvane Wildcats team 7-2 as starting pitcher Stocton Timbrook would earn the victory by surrendering one run in five innings before reaching his allowed pitch count in the game.

Abilene freshman left hander Jake Bartley then earned the save in relief as he allowed a single run in two innings to close out the game.

The Cowboys improved their overall record to 22-2 and will be predicted to be possibly the #2 overall seed for the upcoming state tournament at Salina’s Dean Evans Stadium on May 23 and 24.

Abilene 12,

Winfield 1

With plenty of offensive support, starting pitcher Kyson Becker cruised to a dominating victory over Winfield 12-1. Four Abilene players contributed by way of having multiple RBI’s in the game, as Heath Hoekman, Stocton Timbrook, Jake Bartley, and Tyler Holloway all connected on hits at the right time .

The Cowboys would jump out to an early 3-0 lead after one inning, as a Heath Hoekman RBI single, and a Timbrook two RBI double, would open the scoring.

Abilene’s most explosive inning would happen in the bottom of the third inning, as three of their five offensive hits would be for extra bases. After an initial Drew Hansen hit by pitch, and Zach Miller double, Heath Hoekman would drive in two runs on a base clearing triple to extend their lead to 5-0. A follow up RBI double by Timbrook would increase the lead to 6-0 before consecutive singles by Becker and Holloway pushed the lead to 8-0.

Winfield’s lone run of the game would come in the top of the fourth inning as they would take advantage at a hit batter, a double, and an RBI fielders choice out to make the score 8-1.

An error by the Vikings in the bottom of the fourth inning would account for a single Abilene run before the Cowboys would win in walk off fashion in the bottom of the sixth inning by scoring three runs for a 12-1 final. After earning three base on balls, a Timbrook RBI groundout, and a two RBI triple by Jake Bartley would end the game by run rule.

Becker remained undefeated, and improved his overall record on the season to 6-0, as he allowed just run on three hits, while striking out eight batters and walking one.

Scoring Summary:

Winfield 0 0 0 1 0 1 - 2-3-1

Abilene 3 0 5 1 0 3 - 12-9-2

2B: Gilliland; Timbrook 2, Miller.

3B - H. Hoekman, Bartley.

RBI: Lindenman; H. Hoekman 3, Timbrook 4, Bartley 2, Holloway 2.

HBP: Stanton; Hansen, Timbrook.

SB: Tovar 2; Thrower 2, L. Hoekman, H. Hoekman.

CS: Chattam

Abilene 7,

Mulvane 2

In what was an expected pitching duel in the Regional Championship between two dominant pitchers, in Abilene senior Stocton Timbrook, and Mulvane’s Parker Clubb, Timbrook would lead the Cowboys to a 7-2 victory over the Mulvane Wildcats.

Timbrook who reached his allotted pitch limit, threw five complete innings, while allowing just a single run. Abilene freshman Jake Bartley then secured the victory by earning the save with two effective innings of relief pitching.

Offensively both Heath Hoekman, Zach Miller, and Tommy Keener sparked the team by together earning seven of the teams 10 hits.

Early in the game, Mulvane would threaten in both the first and second innings with runners in scoring position, only to be shut down by Timbrook and the Cowboys defense.

In what was expected to be a low scoring game, Abilene broke the ice in the bottom of the third inning by taking a 3-0 lead.

Five base hit singles in the inning by Lane Hoekman, Keener, Miller, Heath Hoekman, and Kyson Becker would all help account for the runs.

The Wildcats would then answer with a single run scored in the top of the fourth inning as they would take advantage of a pair of walks and an error to cut the lead to 3-1.

The Cowboys would respond in the bottom of the fourth inning with another RBI single by Heath Hoekman, and a Miller steal of home plate as the Mulvane catcher threw down to second base on a double-steal attempt by Abilene.

With a 5-1 lead, Timbrook would approach and ultimately complete the fifth inning as he reached his game pitch count limit of 105 pitches. Freshman left hander Jake Bartley would enter, and shut out the Wildcats offense in the top of the sixth inning. Two insurance runs would be added by the Cowboys in the bottom of the sixth inning after a RBI triple by Miller, and a RBI single by Timbrook would push the lead to 7-1.

Mulvane’s last inning attempt at a comeback rally would end with them scoring just a single run for the 7-2 final. A pair of earned walks, followed by an RBI single with two outs would be all they would get before Bartley would strikeout the final batter of the game.

Timbrook finished with five innings of work allowing one run on two hits. He struckout eight and walked five.

Bartlwy tossed two frames picking up the save allowing one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four.

Scoring Summary:

MHS 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 2-4-0

AHS 0 0 3 2 0 2 X - 7-10-3

2B: Ensley

3B: Miller

RBI: Clubb 1; Miller 2, H. Hoekman 2, Timbrook 1, Becker 1.

HBP: Hansen

SB: Wayman, Myers, Olson;Miller, H. Hoekman.

CS: Ensley; Keener