CONCORDIA, Kan. – Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play would begin for the Cloud County Community College baseball team on Thursday with a doubleheader home split against Seward County Community College to give head coach Eric Gilliland his 100th career win as head coach of his alma mater at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on March 5th.

Cloud County's six-game win streak would be snapped in the series opener as the Saints would pick up a 6-3, seven-inning win before seeing CCCC bounce back with a 3-1 win in game two to move to 11-2 overall and 1-1 in the KJCCC West Division. Seward County is now 6-11 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk Conference after the conference opening split.

"I thought it was kind of a sluggish start to league play for us" said head coach Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "Seward came in and played well and got timely hits in game one and it proved to be the difference as they executed in places we didn't." "We were unable to get hits when we needed to and left guys on base all day but got a really gutsy effort on the mound in game two from Evan Wilde and Bradan Pierce to earn the split." "Pitching and fielding was what allowed us to get out of today with a split and still leave a series win as a possibility when the series resumes in Liberal on Saturday."

GAME ONE:

Cloud County would appear to get off to a strong defensive start with two straight strikeouts to start the game, but back-to-back two-out hits would allow the Saints to take an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single as the score would through the first inning and a half of the contest. After going down in order in the bottom of the first, Ty Nelson would lead things off in the bottom of the second with a triple into the center field gap and come home to tie things up as Griffin Larsen would hit an RBI groundout to knot the score at 1-1. Following a Trevor Stevens strikeout to put two outs on the board in the second, Jaden Parsons would give the T-Birds their first lead of the game with a solo home run to right field that would allow CCCC to go up 2-1 after two innings of play.

A one-two-three inning by Seward would keep momentum swinging in favor of Cloud County as the T-Birds would draw back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the third but manage to strand a pair of runners at second and third as a pop up and strikeout would end the inning and leave the T-Birds empty-handed in the inning.

Trouble would then find its way to the T-Birds as SCCC would put up a crooked number thanks in p art to two walks and three straight singles that would allow the Saints to re-take the lead at 3-2 before a wild pitch would score one additional run to make it four runs on three hits in the inning to put Seward on top 4-2. The T-Birds would get a run back in the bottom half of the inning as Larsen would reach on an error and eventually come around to score on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, but CCCC would strand two more runners and squander an opportunity to tie things up or take the lead once more.

Both the fifth and sixth innings would go scoreless for the T-Birds and Saints to leave things at a one-run game going to the seventh as a leadoff single, sacrifice bunt and one-out infield single would put runners on the corners for SCCC with one out. An insurance run would come across for Seward County on a sacrifice fly as the run would prove not to make much of a difference as Cloud County would be retired in order to end the game in the bottom of the seventh.

The T-Birds would be limited to just two hits in the ball game, with both hits coming in the two-run bottom of the second while Seward would record 10 hits in the contest. Leaving seven runners on base, Cloud County would be hurt all game by being unable to come up with a clutch hit and finished the game with no hits in 10 at-bats with runners on-base.

Three pitchers would see action for the T-Birds in the game, with starter Josh Laukkanen taking his first loss of the season after tossing four innings and allowing five runs on six hits and striking out five. Trey Asher would toss two innings in relief and strikeout one while Brayden Radcliffe would pitch the final inning of work for CCCC and allow one run on two hits.

GAME TWO:

Following a relatively quiet two-plus innings of action, Cloud County would manage to break through in the bottom of the third as Alex Rice would draw a leadoff walk that would spark a two-run inning on just one hit as the T-Birds would take advantage of two walks, an Ed Scott sacrifice fly and pair of wild pitches to go up 2-0 after three. Starting pitcher Wilde would then work around a leadoff single by the Saints in the top of the fourth but see the Cloud County offense strand a pair of runners who would reach with one out in the bottom of the inning as things would remain a 2-0 contest until the top of the fifth.

A throwing error would allow Seward County to plate a run in the top of the fifth as the Cloud County lead would be cut in half by the Saints before seeing the T-Birds held in check offensively in both the fifth and sixth innings to keep things at a one-run game going to the seventh. Seward would put the game-tying run on-base with a leadoff hit-by-pitch to start the seventh but seeing the next three batters pop up to infielders to end the inning as Cloud County would see a one-out single in the bottom of the inning erased on an inning-ending double play.

Seward County would put the game-tying runner on-base again in the eighth but come up empty handed for a second-straight inning as the T-Birds would finally manage to add an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth thanks in part to a Clayton Loranger leadoff walk that would come around to score on a Scott RBI single. The CCCC victory would come anything but easy however in the top of the ninth as two of the first three batters for Seward would reach base before a two-out walk would put the go-ahead run on-base. Pierce would lock in one last time however on the mound and induce a pop up to Rice at second base to end the game as the T-Birds would manage to escape with the win.

Rice would manage to be the only T-Bird in the game to record multiple hits, going two-for-two with one run scored while also drawing one walk. The top four batters in the lineup for CCCC (Noah Olson, Loranger, Scott, and Nelson) would combine to hit four of Cloud County's seven hits in the contest while also driving in two of the T-Birds three runs.

Wilde picked up a team-leading third victory on the mound after throwing six innings and allowing just one run on three hits while Pierce would manage to earn a nine-out save and strikeout three to offset three hits for Seward County. In the game, Cloud County pitchers would strikeout of Saint batters on six-different occasions and while giving up just two walks and the one earned run.   

What's Next?

Cloud County and Seward will conclude their four-game series on Saturday, March 7th with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on the docket in Liberal, Kansas to close out the opening week of KJCCC play. Game one will feature a seven-inning contest and be followed by a nine-inning game to close out the regular-season series between the two squads.