The McLennan Highlanders' season came to an end today with a back-and-forth heartbreaking 10-8 loss to the Cowley Tigers at the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado. Devin Bennett took the loss on the mound for the Highlanders.
 
Cowley began the scoring with two runs in the top of the first inning as Bryce Madron drew a lead-off walk and scored on Trey DeGarmo's home run.
 
McLennan tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the first. Ty Johnson drew a lead off walk and scored on a double by Hunter Grimes. Grimes advanced to third on a ground out by John Ceccoli and scored on a single by Daniel Altman.
 
The Tigers added a run with Trayson Miller's home run in the second.
 
Once again, the Highlanders tied the game with a run in the bottom of the inning. Jason Hawkins singled and Johnson doubled. Hawkins the scored on a sacrifice fly by Grimes.
 
McLennan took the lead with Ceccoli's solo home run to lead off the bottom of the third.
 
Three Tiger runs scored in the fourth. DeGarmo walked and Janson Reeder singled. Conner Gore reached on an error, allowing DeGarmo and Reeder to score. David Herring then singled to score Gore.
 
The Highlanders added a run in the bottom of the fourth as Hawkins walked and moved to second on a ground out by Johnson. Grimes singled and Hawkins scored on a sacrifice fly by Cole Fontenelle.
 
Cowley added two runs in the fifth. Ty Hammack singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Miller. Madron reached on an error, scoring Hammack. DeGarmo, Reeder and Gore all walked, bringing Madron in to score.
 
Another Tiger run scored in the sixth. Logan Vaughan led off with a single. Miller and Haden O'Toole both walked, loading the bases. Madron followed with a fielder's choice to score Vaughan.
 
McLennan added two runs in the bottom of the sixth with solo home runs by Grimes and Ceccoli.
 
The Highlanders scored a run in the seventh to cut the lead to one. Pinch hitter Chase Brown doubled to lead off the inning. Izzy Lopez followed with a single to score Brown.
 
Cowley rounded out the scoring with a run in the top of the ninth as Gore singled, advanced around to third on a pair of passed balls and scored on a fielder's choice by Hammack.
 
McLennan ends the season with an overall record of 50-13-1.
 
Thoughts from head coach Mitch Thompson: These guys set the goal, they came in here with the expectation that's what they were going to do, get back to Grand Junction. That's what they were able to do. They're hurting right now, but it's a good hurt. If it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be worth doing. I'm sad that they have to hurt, but, man, if you didn't invest anything it wouldn't hurt, and they've invested everything. I've got all praise to them that I can give. They gave me everything they had. I hurt that they couldn't finish the job that they wanted to get done today.
 
Cowley 10, McLennan 8
Cowley 210 321 001 – 10 10 0
McLennan 211 102 100 – 8 11 4
Chance Cox, Carlton Perkins (5), Miguel Fulgencio (6), Isaac Stevens (7) and Logan Vaughan. Devin Bennett, Austin Ford (5), Jared Matheson (5), Will Glatch (7), Gray Harrison (9) and Jason Hawkins. WP: Perkins; LP: Bennett; SP: Stebens. Leading hitters – Cowley: Bryson Madron (0-2, RBI), Trey DeGarmo (2-3, HR, RBI), Connor Gore (1-4, RBI), David Herring (1-5, RBI),Ty Hammack (1-6, RBI), Trayson Miller (1-4, HR, RBI); McLennan: Ty Johnson (1-4, 2B), Hunter Grimes (3-4, 2B, 3 RBI), Cole Fontenelle (0-3, RBI), Chase Brown (1-2, 2B), John Ceccoli (2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI), Daniel Altman (1-5, RBI), Izzy Lopez (1-3, RBI). Record: McLennan 50-13-1 (28-4).