GREAT BEND, Kan. – Dropping just their third road doubleheader of the season, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would see their offense held in check as the T-Birds produced just three runs on 12 hits as host Barton Community College would win by scores of 10-2 and 7-1 at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend, Kansas on Thursday, May 6th.
 
Having dropped four-consecutive games, Cloud County is now 28-20 overall and falls to 17-13 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Barton improves to 31-16 overall and 18-12 in the KJCCC.
 
Game One:
CCCC would get out to a 1-0 lead by taking advantage of a Barton error in the top of the second before seeing the Cougars put up a three-spot in the bottom half of the inning to go up 3-1. BCCC would then add another run in the third and four in the fourth to take an 8-1 lead as the T-Birds would be able to only produce one more run in the top of the fifth before seeing Barton push two more runs across in the sixth to take game one of the series by an eight-run margin.
 
Three players would account for the six hits in the game for Cloud County as Jaden parsons, Noah Olson and Jose Luna would all have two hits each with Olson recording the lone extra-base hit for CCCC. Parsons would also add a stolen base and hit-by-pitch as the T-Birds would strike out seven times in the contest.
 
Game Two:
Offensive production wouldn't be any easier to come by in game two as a red-hot Cougar team that has now won eight of their last 10 would jump out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before the T-Birds would tie things up at 1-1 in the top of the third. The pitcher's duel would continue up until the bottom of the sixth as the BCCC offense would break through with five runs in the in the inning before adding one additional run in the seventh as Cloud County once again would be quieted in the late innings to never have a chance to post a comeback.
 
The lone run driven in by the T-Birds would come off the bat of Ian Riley as the freshman would go one-for-three with a walk at the plate while Jack Correll, Williams Camacho-Soto, and Adler Pierson would also have a hit each. Willie Ponce would have the only multi-hit game of the contest for Cloud County, recording two hits in four at-bats with a double.
 
 Despite recording 13 strikeouts in the game, the CCCC pitching staff would struggle on the mound as Evan Wilde would take the loss after going 5.1 innings and allowing four runs on five hits and striking out eight. Javier Cruz and Jayden Payne would also make an appearance for Cloud County, with Payne striking out five of the 10 batters he faced.
 
What's Next?
The four-game series between the Cougars and T-Birds will wrap up tomorrow afternoon in Concordia as Cloud County will host Barton for a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field. CCCC needs a Friday sweep to ensure a top-four finish in the KJCCC West Division as a loss in either game will drop the T-Birds down to a yet-to-be-determined spot in the standings ahead of next week's NJCAA Region VI sub-regional tournament.