GARDEN CITY, Kan. – The offense would be in full force on Thursday afternoon for the Cloud County Community College baseball team as the T-Birds would pound out 34 hits and put up 29 total runs in a doubleheader road sweep of Garden City Community College at Williams Stadium in Garden City, Kansas on Thursday, April 1st.

Winners of six straight, Cloud County improves to 17-11 overall and is now 9-5 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division. Garden City falls to 13-11 overall and 4-6 in the KJCCC as the Broncbusters have now dropped three of their past four conference games.

GAME ONE:
Scoring right out of the gates, Cloud County would push across two runs with two outs in the top of the first as a Noah Olson double would kickstart four straight batters to reach base with Williams Camacho-Soto would drive in Olson and Ian Riley would who reach on a walk to make it 2-0 after half an inning. Things would then get broken open in the top of the second as an Adler Pierson one-out triple would and Willie Ponce walk would allow Jaden Parsons to hit an RBI single and make the score 3-0. Olson then provided the big blast on a 1-0 count with a three-run homer to double the CCCC lead as Cloud County would make it 6-0 heading to the bottom of the second.

Garden City would work a leadoff walk before three-straight strikeouts from freshman Kolby Dougan would get the T-Birds out of the inning to allow CCCC to get back up on offense where Garrett Redden would hit a leadoff home run. The next two batters would then safely reach base before a sacrifice bunt and walk would load the bases to force the Broncbusters to make a call to the bullpen to try and stop the bleeding. Despite the change, Cloud County would continue to hit everything in sight as six more runs would come across in the inning with 10 batters coming to the dish as part of a seven-run third.

Working with a 13-0 lead would be more than enough offense for Dougan as the Topeka, Kansas native would allow GCCC to put two runners on with two outs before a groundout ended the inning as CCCC would be in position to end the seven-inning contest early due to the 10-run rule. An RBI single from Olson to score Pierson with two outs in the top of the fourth would tack on one more run for good measure as the final inning and a half would go scoreless to end things after the fifth inning.

Dougan would officially end the day with nine total strikeouts as part of a complete game effort while allowing just two hits and two walks and facing a total of 20 batters. Of Cloud County's 13 hits, Olson would be responsible for four with three going for extra-bases to go along with a five-RBI effort and three runs scored.

GAME TWO:
It would be another hot start by the T-Birds offensively in game two as CCCC would follow up a scoreless first inning with a two-run top of the second as the first four batters of the inning would safely reach base with Riley and Redden both hitting doubles to go with a Camacho-Soto RBI single. The two-run lead would hold through the inning as Cloud County would bust things open on the Broncbusters with two home runs in the top of the third as part of nine hits and a hit batter coming in a 10-run inning to make it 12-0 heading to the bottom of the third.

Garden City would begin to chip away at the deficit in the bottom of the third as a pair of errors would allow the Broncbusters to get on the board with two runs to get things back to a 10-run hole. Neither team would be able to score in the fourth or fifth as things would appear to calm down before a wild sixth inning.

A solo homer from Redden would be his second of the game to put CCCC up 13-2 before seeing Garden City attempt to make things interesting in the bottom of the sixth by taking advantage of three T-Bird errors and connecting on a grand slam to get back within four at 13-9. Having to face the swing in momentum from the last half-inning, Cloud County would put a quick end to it as an Olson RBI double would plate one of two runs in the top of the seventh to give the T-Birds some more breathing room and put an end to the Broncbuster rally as the bullpen would do their part to shut down GCCC and allow the T-Birds to take a six-run victory.

Eight different players would record at least one hit in the contest with Redden going four-for-five with three RBI and two home runs. Riley would also have a big day with a team-high four RBI on three hits while Olson would also drive in three.

Improving to 3-1 on the mound after a five-inning performance would be freshman Evan Wilde after allowing six runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six. Javier Cruz would manage to work the final 3.2 innings and keep Garden City scoreless to earn his first save of the year while striking out six and allowing just two hits to the 14 batters he faced.

What's Next?
For the second-straight weekend, Cloud County will have an opportunity at closing at a conference series win at home as the T-Birds will host the Broncbusters for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 3rd. The games will mark the halfway point of the conference season for CCCC, who will have next weekend as their KJCCC bye week.