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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net

They wore patches with the nickname "D-ROCK" enscribed on their left sleeves. The flag was at half stalf. There was also a moment of silence to honor the late Derek Burroughs before Wednesday's home opener.

The No. 10 Tigers gave the late Cowley student and team statistician a win at a place that he had come to know so well. Cowley rallied from an early deficit and its bullpen threw eight shut out innings as the Tigers held on for a 5-4 win over No. 16 Butler County at City Ball Park.

Burroughs, son of Cowley coach Dave Burroughs, died unexpectedly of a cerebral aneurysm on Feb. 14.

The Tigers have dedicated this season in Burroughs' memory.

"He's a great guy and we miss him so much," said sophomore third baseman Tom O'Gorman, who went 1-of-3 with an RBI. "He can never replaced because he's just a guy that was always there and was positive. He loved being around the ballpark and sometimes he liked being here than a lot more other people."

Things didn't start off on the right foot for Cowley.

Dorain Williams hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to left field, but Nick Snow couldn't see the ball through the glaring sun. The ball pinballed off Snow's cap, face and to the left field corner. No. 26 sped around the base path and scored easily on the four-base error. Calder Cody then drew a bases-loaded walk later in the inning for a 2-0 lead.

O'Gorman cut Butler's lead in half with an RBI double in the bottom of the first, but Kyle Ewy and Anthony Salinas recorded back-to-back hits to the start the second and chase Cowley starter Luke Zeller from the game. Zeller allowed four runs (three earned) and five hits in one inning.

Connor Farris came in and settled things down.

Williams recorded an RBI sacrifice fly and Dylan Pettrich a two-out single for a 4-1 Butler lead, but Farris (three innings, one hit, two strikeouts) proceeded to slam the door on Butler. He retired six of the last seven batters he faced.

"He stabilized the game really good," Cowley assistant coach Darren Burroughs said. "He came in and did exactly what we needed him to."

Curt Simpson, Zack Potter and Stephen Kohlscheen followed up Farris' efforts, combining to allow no hits and no runs over the last four innings.

Simpson (1-0) earned the win in relief of Zeller. Kohlscheen retired the side in the ninth to earn his first career save.

Cowley's bullpen allowed no hits over the final 7 1/3 innings and retired the last 14 batters.

That allowed the Tigers to slowly chip away at Butler's lead.

Tyson Parks hit an RBI triple into the gap in the third to cut Butler's lead to 4-3. John Chaisson tied the game at 4 on an RBI ground-out in the fourth.

Snow made up for his earlier blunder, scoring the winning run in the sixth. After leading off the inning with a single, he proceeded to steal second and third bases. Snow then hustled down the base line and scored on a wild pitch by Darren Parker for a 5-4 Cowley lead.

Snow also scored from third base in the third inning when Butler starter Micah Busboom threw to first base to check on the base runner.

"He gets a good jump on the base paths and when they threw it to first, he read it as good as you can read it," Burroughs said.

Snow finished 2-for-3, while Parks and Andy Petz added two hits apiece.

Busboom allowed four runs, three hits and two walks in four innings for the Grizzlies. Parker took the loss for Butler, which rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat Cowley 6-5 on Tuesday in El Dorado.

Cowley improved to 2-4 with the win, while Butler fell to 4-4.