HASTINGS, Neb. – Big innings in both the top of the fifth and sixth would help the Cloud County Community College baseball team to a 15-6 non-conference road win over the Hastings College JV team at Duncan Field in Hastings, Nebraska on Tuesday, March 10th.

The win moves the T-Birds to 13-3 overall after taking the first of three scheduled games against the Broncos this season.

"It was good to get some guys in there and continuing gaining experience and depth as a team" said head coach Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We still haven't been able to put together a full day of baseball for awhile and we started slow tonight which forced us to play from behind." "The lack of consistency and toughness is concerning as we enter the meat of our schedule coming up and will be something that we will need to address as the schedule won't give us any breaks moving forward."

Cloud County would take a 2-0 lead after one inning of play before seeing the Broncos score plate one in the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead going to the fifth. Three hits, an error, and a walk would allow CCCC to plate four in the top of the fifth to go back up by a score of 6-5 as Cloud County would then break the game open in the top of the sixth with seven runs on six two-out hits and a walk as all seven runs would come following the error. Holding a 13-5 lead, Hastings College would score one run in the bottom of the eighth but allow CCCC to score two in the top of the ninth as the T-Birds would cruise to the victory after an early deficit.

Sophomore Josh Laukkanen would drive in two runs and score three times as part of a two-for-five performance at the plate in his first start at designated hitter on the year as four T-Birds would record two hits apiece. Jack Correll would also drive home a pair of runs off of two hits while nine different players for CCCC would record at least one hit.

Picking up the win on the mound would be Brayden Radcliffe after throwing two innings in relief and allowing two runs on three hits while striking out four as the T-Bird pitching staff would strike out 11 Hastings College batters.

What's Next?

For the third time this week, Cloud County has adjusted their weekend schedule and will now host Butler Community College for a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 12th. The change comes as forecasted weather has moved the series from a Thursday/Saturday series to what is now scheduled to be a Thursday/Friday home-and-home four-game series.