COWBOYS TO PLAY IN FINALS! 

The Big Bend Cowboys have advanced to the CBL Championship series to play for the Ferguson Jenkins Trophy.  The game begins tonight at 6:55 at Bringhurst Field in Alexandria.

The surprising turn of events came after the the Boys dropped two of three games to the Toros in a hard-fought series in Texas City.  The season looked finished, but for internal reasons the defending champion Toros rapparently efused to travel to Alexandria for the series.  Bay Area general manager Mike Pede confirmed that the team would not go, although he did not disclose the reasons.  The CBL office then decided that the Cowboys should take their place.  The Cowboys are presently on their way to Alexandria for tonight's game.

The hard-hitting Cowboys, who have scored more runs than any CBL team this year and come into the game with five of the league's best hitters -- center fielder Eric Williams, right fielder Andrew Riddick, second baseman Beau Manning, and designated hitters Anselmo Vazquez and Chris Dabbs -- will face a very strong Alexandria Aces pitching staff led by lefthander Rhett Barber and righthander Matt Schon, two the league's best.  Barber, who struck out fifteen Texarkana Gunslingers Wednesday night to lead the Aces into the finals, was 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA this season against Big Bend, will not be available for at least the first two games, which is good news for the Boys.  The Cowboys have struggled all year in Alexandria, going only 1-7 at Bringhurst Field.  The Aces, who joined the CBL this year, won two of the last three United League championships and finished second last year.

The second game of the series is scheduled for 6:55 tomorrow evening in Alexandria, while the third game (if necessary) will be played Sunday.  All Cowboys home and road games can heard live on KALP/KVLF in Alpine, and on the World Wide Web at bigbendradio.com.