CONCORDIA, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College baseball team received a much-needed palate cleanser on Thursday, rebounding from a tough start its conference schedule last weekend with a 15-3 blowout victory over non-conference foe, Kansas Wesleyan University JV.

Cloud County (9-10 overall, 0-4 KJCCC) cranked out 15 hits and committed just one error in the field. It was one of the more complete games so far this spring by the T-Birds, who matched last season's win total with Thursday's victory.

"Regardless of who we were playing, we needed to play better ourselves and play against just the sport of baseball and we did that (Thursday)," said Cloud County head coach, Eric Gilliland. "We took care of the baseball, defensively. We threw a ton of strikes and had really good at-bats throughout the day. It was nice to see us come out and clean things up."

Sophomore right-hander Nick Wordekemper (2-2) was efficient in his four scoreless innings, picking up the win while limiting the Coyotes to a pair of hits. He struck out the side in the first inning and finished with five strikeouts on the afternoon in what was an effort to get Wordekemper back in rhythm after a tough outing against Dodge City.

"He'll be ready to go for Sunday against Garden City," said Gilliland, referring to Wordekemper. "We really needed him to clear that last outing and get some confidence back. He was really sharp with all of his stuff and it was good to see that look in his eye again."

Cloud's offense put the visiting Coyotes away early, scoring two runs in the first, five in the second and the T-Birds' put up a seven spot in the third inning to leap out to a 14-0 lead.

A pair of freshmen led the way as outfielder Ryan Simons and first baseman Ryan Krolikowski each had a team-high three hits.

Simons drove in two runs and Krolikowski added four RBI, three coming on a two-out, bases clearing double in the second inning.

"Lately we've had a lot of 1-2 run innings when we've scored," Gilliland said. "We really lacked that big inning; that big bases loaded double and punch to the gut. That was awesome to see 'Krolo' do that, square up a ball into the gap, and turn it into a huge inning for us."

Sophomore second baseman Jacob Grady padded his RBI lead on the team with three on Thursday with two productive outs and an RBI single in the third inning. Fellow sophomore Gabriel Jacobo added a pair of RBI singles as well.

Up next for Cloud County will be a four-game series on the road this Saturday and Sunday against Garden City Community College. Game times are set for 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

It'll be a big series in more than one way as, not only as the T-Birds looking to notch their first KJCCC West wins, but Gilliland returns to face a Broncbusters' program where he spent 2011-2015 as an assistant coach.

"I can't wait to get down there. I love that place and I learned a lot from coach (Chris) Finnegan down there," Gilliland said. "I talk to him still quite a bit, so it'll be special and a lot of fun. Hopefully we go down there and play well."