By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Battle for Dickinson County was a fierce one this year on the baseball diamond, with the Chapman Fighting Irish taking the opener, and the Abilene Cowboys coming back to secure a split in the nightcap.
Game One: Chapman 7, Abilene 4
Cooper Lewis was masterful on the mound for the Irish in game one, holding Abilene completely in check for six scoreless innings.
At the plate, Chapman struck for a pair of runs in the third, fifth, and seventh, around one more run in the sixth.
Cooper Lewis epitomized the leadoff hitter, reaching base in four of his five plate appearances with a pair of singles and a pair of walks.
Twice in this game, Lewis would be scored by Aven Woods, who drove in four of Chapman’s seven runs in the victory, including a two-run blast in the top of the fifth.
Every member of the Chapman lineup reached, and the defense did its job in an error-free contest.
Abilene’s struggles at the plate finally ended in the bottom of the seventh, where the Cowboys rallied for four runs, but it would be too little, too late as the Irish capitalized on a baserunning error to take game one.
Lewis allowed just three runs on three hits, striking out three before turning things over to Jed Moody who locked up the save.
Game Two: Abilene 8, Chapman 4
Just like they did in the first game of this set, the Irish pounced first in game two, with Cade Hanney and Karson Craig each driving in runs to put Chapman in front 2-0.
The first seven Cowboys to bat went down in short order, but then, Jake Bartley happened.
In the third inning, Bartley put his team ahead with a three-run tank to right that flipped a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.
The very next inning, Bartley got back to work, clearing the bases on a double in the opposite gap to stretch the lead to four.
Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, he gave the Cowboys some much-needed breathing room, adding two final runs before the Abilene bullpen slammed the door shut.
All told, Bartley went 3-4 in game two, tallying five hits and eight RBI in the doubleheader, including seven RBI in this 8-4 win.
On the bump, Thomas Keener would record the win, but it was Heath Hoekman who got the Cowboys over the finish line, striking out eight in four innings of two-hit ball where he allowed just one earned run.
With this split, Abilene improves to 13-9 while Chapman moves to 11-9.
The Irish will close out their regular season with St. Mary’s on Thursday and Wamego on Tuesday, while the Cowboys face the Raiders in their final doubleheader of the season this Friday.