LIBERAL, Kan. – Falling on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh of game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would take no chances in game two to jump out to a 9-1 lead as part of a 10-4 series-ending win over Seward County Community College to split a mid-week doubleheader at Brent Gould Field in Liberal, Kansas on Tuesday, March 16th.
The split leaves Cloud County with a 10-8 overall record and 2-2 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division after winning the back end of both doubleheaders in the series while Seward County moves to 5-9 overall and 2-2 in the KJCCC.
Game One:
Fans would be treated to a pitchers duel for five and a half-innings of the opener as only two runs would be scored before the bottom of the sixth which would lead to 13 total runs in the final three at-bats of the game. Both teams would go hitless in both the first and second innings as offense would be flat from the four-day layoff that saw neither team able to get out and face live pitching due to the weather. Cloud County would finally break up the no-hitter in the top of the third with a
Noah Olson double as the freshman would extend his hitting streak to 16 games before getting stranded at third to keep things scoreless heading to the bottom of the third.
A quick one-two-three bottom of the third would allow the CCCC offense to get back up to the plate as Cloud County would get a one-out rally going by taking advantage of a Seward County error on a fielder's choice to put runners on first and third with still just one out. After a hit batter would load the bases, catcher
Jose Luna would drive in the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to bring home
Williams Camacho-Soto who would slide in ahead of the tag to put the T-Birds up 1-0. An
Adler Pierson single would then bring home a second run for the T-Birds as Cloud County would go up by a pair heading to the bottom of the inning.
A one-out hit batter and single to break up a no-hit bid from
Carl Aikman would allow the Saints to threaten in the bottom of the fourth, but one of four double-plays turned by the T-Birds in the contest would end the threat and the inning.
Neither team would be able to muster any offense in the fifth before seeing Cloud County go down in order in the top of the sixth as things would then get interesting for the final nine outs of the game. Getting a leadoff single to start the bottom of the sixth, Seward County would see two quick outs come up on a sacrifice bunt and groundout to move the runner to third before an RBI single from their two-hole hitter would cut the T-Bird lead in half. The single would kick off a rally that saw two more hits and an error extend the inning as SCCC would score three runs in the inning on four hits to go up 3-2 and stand just three outs away from reclaiming a series lead.
Facing Saint closer Cory Didier for the second time in the series, a patient Cloud County approach would see the T-Birds record back-to-back one-out singles from Pierson and Olson to put the go-ahead run on with the meat of the lineup still due up.
Jaden Parsons and
Ian Riley would then draw back-to-back walks to tie the game up at 3-3 and still have the bases loaded as Seward County would make a second move to the bullpen. A
Garrett Redden two-RBI single would then allow the T-Birds to reclaim the lead as CCCC would wind up scoring five runs in the inning to take a 7-3 lead and look to be in prime position to steal a win in the opener.
Not to be outdone, the Saints would get a leadoff double followed by two walks and a hit batter to plate a run and get back within 7-4 with the game-tying run now at first. A fielder's choice double play would see Camacho-Soto field a sharply hit ground ball to step on the bag and throw home to Luna who would apply the tag to get a much-needed second out of the inning as the deficit would stay at a three for Seward County. The game would be kept alive however as Wyatt Grant would hit a two-out single to load the bases once more for cleanup hitter Brayden Boisvert who would end the game on a 2-2 count with a walk-off grand slam over the left field fence.
The defeat would come despite eight hits including a pair of extra-base hits for the T-Birds as both Pierson and Olson would finish with two hits each while Redden would drive in a team-high two runs. A strong outing from Aikman would see the Topeka, Kansas native throw six innings and allow three runs (one earned ) on six hits while striking out two while
Jayden Payne would take the loss after allowing three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning-pitched.
GAME TWO:
After seeing each team score a run in the first inning of game two, things would settle in for the next two innings of play as a shift in weather would see a howling wind blow in from left field and change the way that things would have played out just hours earlier. In the top of the fourth inning, each of Cloud County's first six batters of the inning would safely reach base as Pierson would deliver with a big two RBI single as part of a four-run output on four hits, two walks and a hit batter for CCCC to go up by a score of 5-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
Making his first collegiate start, pitcher Connor Woods would then continue to work his way through the Saint lineup to retire SCCC in order in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings before getting an additional four runs of support in the top of the sixth as Olson would launch a two-run homer to cap off eight unanswered runs by Cloud County.
Seward County would manage to get back on the board again in the bottom of the sixth as two walks to begin the inning would start a rally that would end as a two-out rally following back-to-back strikeouts as two more walks would bring home a run to make it a 9-2 contest.
Patrick Kennedy would be called on in relief to try and escape the bases-loaded jam with the nine-hole hitter due up as a pinch-hitter Reed Thomas would fly out to Olson to leave the bases loaded and keep it a seven-run T-Bird lead.
Neither team would be able to get anything going in the seventh as Cloud county would then be held scoreless in the top of the eighth before seeing SCCC push across another run off of a pair of one-out doubles in the bottom of the inning. A two-out error would allow a second run to score in the inning as Seward County would continue to chip away at the lead built by CCCC. The T-Birds would then tack on an insurance run in the top of the ninth before turning the ball over to
Rans Sanders who would strike out the side to end the game and allow Cloud County to salvage a split in the twice-delayed road trip to the southwest corner of the state.
A four-for-five outing from six-hole hitter
Willie Ponce would lead all players in the contest as the T-Birds would pound out 13 hits and draw eight walks. Parsons, Redden, and Olson would all record extra-base hits in the contest with Pierson driving in a team-high three runs while seven different players would have at least one hit.
Woods would officially go 5.2 innings to get his first collegiate win after allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out five despite giving up six free passes in the game. Kennedy and Sanders would manage to close out the final 3.1 innings and strike out four while allowing just two hits to the Saints in the late innings.
What's Next?
Shortened rest will make way for a four-game series in KJCCC play with Butler Community College beginning on Friday, March 19th at 1 p.m. down in El Dorado, Kansas. Originally scheduled for a Thursday doubleheader, the decision was made by the two teams as both were forced to conclude their opening Jayhawk Conference series from last weekend on Tuesday and will give an additional day of rest and field preparation due to the recent rainfall that has saturated the Sunflower State. As of now, the series would then conclude on Saturday in Concordia at 1 p.m. if field conditions allow for the games to be played at Lee Doyen Field. In the case that the field conditions at Lee Doyen Field do not allow for the games to be played in Concordia, a neutral-site field with field turf would be pursued to close out the four-game series.
