By Christian Malone
ADEL — Cook and Blessed Trinity traded 5-0 wins Tuesday in their Class AA baseball quarterfinal series, setting up a deciding third game today.
The Hornets (28-5) and Titans (23-9) will clash again at 4 p.m. today at Bruce Long Field, with the winner advancing to the state semifinals.
Cook’s D.J. Johnson carried his team to a game 1 win with a dominant 15-strikeout, three-hit performance. But Blessed Trinity’s Alex Cruz was equally good for his team in game 2, and kept the Titans alive.
Cook head coach Bob Owsley switched his rotation for the third round, and started Johnson in game 1. The junior right-hander, who is now 3-0 in the postseason, responded with another fine outing. He struck out the side in the first, fourth and fifth innings, and had at least one strikeout in every inning. Blessed Trinity got two singles in the third and one in the fifth, but that was it.
Kaleb Cowart’s first-inning home run gave Cook a lead it would not relinquish. With Johnson on second and one out, Cowart blasted a pitch from Blessed Trinity starter J.D. Sabo over the fence in right field to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead.
After that, the game turned into a pitcher’s duel, as Johnson and Sabo traded zeroes on the scoreboard for the next four innings.
Blessed Trinity came close to scoring in the top of the fifth. Rock Rucker and Matt Kinney walked, then Jake Skole fought off several two-strike pitches before singling to right. But Johnson fanned Andy Vogel, then on a full count, struck out Ricky Kleban looking to escape the jam.
The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth, when Cook scored three runs to pull away.
Leading off the sixth, Cook cleanup hitter Wes Warren beat out an infield single, then Tyler Norton reached on a bunt single, putting two men on with no outs. One out later, Palmer Betts was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Trevor Hand ripped a pitch off of the fence in left center. Courtesy runner Skyler Lindsey, Betts and Austin Steele raced home to score, increasing Cook’s lead to 5-0.
Johnson closed the door with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
Cowart homered and doubled, and drove in two runs. Johnson, Norton and Hand also had two hits.
Cruz went to the mound in game 2 and turned in a dominant performance. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and shut down Cook’s hard-hitting lineup. The Hornets’ only hit was Barks’ double in the fifth.
The Titans scored a run in the first and two in the second, then added single runs in the fourth and fifth.
Cowart only allowed five hits and struck out eight, but he also hit five batters in the loss.
