The Junction City Brigade got seven scoreless innings from pitcher Riley Taylor, survived a shaky eighth inning and defeated the Midwest A’s in game one of their best two out of three Cowdin Cup championship series 6-1.

Game two will be Saturday at 7 p.m. in Belton, Missouri.

Junction City coach Derek Francis said game one went about as well as the Brigade could have hoped. “We played a complete game offense, just about did defensively and then Riley Taylor on the mound threw as good a seven innings as I’ve seen all summer.”

The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Brigade put two runs on the board. They got one more in the fifth and then in the seventh, Mac McCroskey hit a home run to score two more runs.

Midwest threatened in the 8th inning when they scored one run and loaded the bases with two outs before a strike out ended the game.

The fans were treated to a fireworks display after the game courtesy of Bennett Fireworks, the Junction City Community Baseball Club and a grant from the Geary County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.