GARDEN CITY, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College baseball team picked up its first Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) West win of the season over the weekend, defeating Garden City Community College, 5-2, in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.

It highlighted what was a solid day of baseball for the T-Birds (10-13 overall, 1-7 KJCCC West) following a disappointing Saturday where they fell 14-2 and 12-2 to the Broncbusters (17-10 overall, 5-3 KJCCC West).

"It was almost identical to the Dodge City series as far as momentum goes," said Cloud County head coach, Eric Gilliland. "We did not play well at all on Saturday. But (Sunday) was the best day of baseball we've put together in a while."

Sophomore right-hander Gabriel Jacobo set the tone in Game Three as he pitched 4 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, limiting Garden City to just three hits while striking out four.

The T-Birds got on the scoreboard first when sophomore first baseman Kolton Meyer drilled a solo home run to lead off the third inning — his first of two home runs on Sunday, giving him a team-high six long balls so far this season.

Freshman designated hitter Ryan Krolikowski added an RBI single in the fourth inning to give Cloud a 2-0 lead, and freshman third baseman Tauren Langley provided two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth with his fourth home run of the season; a two-run shot that scored sophomore Jacob Grady, who led off the inning with a double.

Freshman right-hander Erick Carrion pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning for his second save of the season to nail down the 5-2 final.

"That was one of the better games we've played this year," Gilliland said. "We got an outstanding performance on the mound from Jacobo, backed it up with good defense, and got the big blasts from Meyer and Langley."

In Sunday's finale, Cloud County went toe-to-toe with Garden City for seven-plus innings, but ran out of steam in a 15-8 defeat.

The T-Birds cut a 5-1 deficit through five innings to 5-4 following a three-run home run by Langley in the top of the sixth inning.

Cloud County's offense kept it in the game as it produced two runs in the seventh and eighth innings. But the Broncbusters answered each jab as they scored two runs in the sixth, three runs in the seventh, and a five-run eighth inning that put the game away.

The last game of a long series, and an abrupt arm injury to sophomore Nick Wordekemper that cut his day short at 1 2/3 scoreless innings, put Cloud County in a tough spot with its available arms in Sunday's finale. Wordekemper will be evaluated on Monday as to the extent of his injury.

"I made some bad decisions with our bullpen. Nick going down early didn't help," Gilliland said. "We just couldn't get a big stop in the late innings."

The T-Birds will be back home at 4p.m. Wednesday when it hosts non-conference foe, Southeast Community College.