FORT SCOTT, Kan. – After letting the offense carry the way to a season-opening doubleheader sweep last week, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would let their pitcher's rule the day on Monday as 34 strikeouts would lead to a doubleheader sweep of Fort Scott Community College at the LaRoche Baseball Complex in Fort Scott, Kansas on February 14th.
The sweep is the first for the T-Birds in a doubleheader against the Greyhounds since the 2020 season which also happens to be the last time that CCCC has started 4-0. Fort Scott is now 0-2 as the doubleheader served as their season-opening games.
"The pitching staff was exceptional today and carried us on a day that we didn't swing the bat all that well" said head coach
Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We had guys on the mound today that have a lot of experience and it showed throughout the 16 innings we played today." "Despite not having all that great of an offensive day, we did find a way to manufacture runs by producing walks, bunts, hit batters, and stolen bases that were mixed in with timely hits."
GAME ONE:
Three walks would go to waste for Cloud County in the top of the first as a double play on a strikeout and batter interference would put two outs on the board before seeing the inning come to an end with
Tom Poole getting thrown out at third after taking off on a 3-2 pitch that would reach the backstop. The Greyhounds would have each of their first two batters reach thanks to a leadoff walk and single before putting both runners in scoring position on a passed ball. A second walk in the inning would then load the bases with no outs, but sophomore pitcher
Christian Womble would settle in with a strikeout, infield fly, and second strikeout to get out of the jam and keep things scoreless after an inning.
A quick one-two-three top of the second would see CCCC back on defense where FSCC would hit a leadoff double and put a second runner on with a two-out walk, but another strikeout from Womble would once again get the T-Birds out of danger. Two singles and a walk to start the top of the third would put Cloud County on the scoreboard as
Ian Riley would drive in
Ty Wevers before seeing
Brock Wollin walk to load the bases. Poole would then be hit by a pitch to make it 2-0 in favor of CCCC with still no outs as the T-Birds would tack on two more runs on a
Willie Ponce walk and
Alexander Diaz hit-by-pitch to put up four runs on just two hits.
A relatively clean bottom of the third for CCCC would see a two-out walk go to waste, but the T-Birds would be unable to capitalize in the top of the fourth as two runners would be stranded. A pitching change for Cloud County would see
Giordano Mezzomo make his T-Bird debut in electric fashion, striking out the side with two strikeouts coming on swing and misses. Ponce would then start up the CCCC offense in the top of the fifth with a double down the left-field line before scoring after a pair of Greyhound wild pitches. A
Garrett Redden walk and stolen base would put another runner in scoring position for Cloud County to allow for
Adler Pierson to hit an RBI single which would put the score at 6-0 in favor of the T-Birds.
Mezzomo would continue to overpower Fort Scott, allowing just one hit while adding five more strikeouts before ending his day. Cloud County would tack on two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, but they would be far from needed as the Greyhounds would leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout securing CCCC's first shutout of the year.
The eight Cloud County runs would come on eight hits and eight walks as Pierson would be the lone player in the game to record more than one hit. Pierson officially finished the game two-for-two with two RBIs and a walk while Diaz would also finish with two RBIs in addition to two walks and a hit.
Three pitchers would combine on the shutout as Womble would strike out five in his three innings of work before seeing Mezzomo (1-0) pick up the win with three innings of work and eight strikeouts. Freshman
Jack Mount would finish off the game by throwing the final inning of action and striking out three batters to give the pitching staff 16 strikeouts out of a possible 21 outs.
GAME TWO:
Manufacturing runs would be a lot quicker to come by in game two as CCCC would plate a pair of runs on three hits and an error in the top of the first before seeing FSCC respond with an unearned run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Sloppy defensive play would continue into the top of the second as a throwing error and walk would put the first two runners of the inning aboard for the T-Birds before an RBI single from Wollin and sacrifice fly from Poole would make it 4-1 in favor of Cloud County. CCCC would go on to add two more runs as a second error and RBI single capped off a four-run inning that would come on just two hits to put the T-Birds up 6-1.
The five-run lead would be short-lived however for Cloud County as Fort Scott would turn two walks to start the inning into a three-run bottom of the second as a two-RBI double and fielding error that would have ended the inning allowed the Greyhounds to get back within two at 6-4. Neither team would be able to add to their offensive totals in the third despite putting runners on base with the fourth inning seeing similar results.
With both teams finally starting to get back into a rhythm on the defensive end, the score would remain a 6-4 Cloud County lead until the top of the seventh when a much-needed insurance run would be produced off a Pierson one-out bunt single and Wollin RBI double. FSCC would refuse to go away quietly in the bottom of the seventh as a solo home run would erase the insurance run produced in the top of the seventh to keep things at a two-run lead for the T-Birds with two innings of play remaining.
A relatively quiet eighth would see both teams not put up much of a threat as the game would head to the ninth with CCCC looking to add to its slim lead. The offense would finally come through for Cloud County in the ninth as three-straight batters would be hit by a pitch following a leadoff pop out to load the bases for Redden. Drawing an RBI walk, Redden would take his turn aboard as another hit batter and a fielder's choice with a throwing error would bring home three more runs and make it an 11-5 contest with still one out in the inning. A passed ball would bring home one more run before a Diaz sacrifice fly would produce the sixth and final run of the inning for Cloud County despite not being able to record a hit during the frame. Fort Scott's final chance at trying to make up an eight-run deficit would be quickly shut down by
Rans Sanders who came in for a save situation when the lead was just two for CCCC, working around an error to start the inning by striking out the next three batters to end the game.
Seven hit batters in the game would prove to be a big help to Cloud County in the contest as the T-Birds would record 12 hits and drive in 10 of the 13 runs scored. Wollin and
Joel Benes would be the biggest offensive factors in the contest as each would record three hits and drive in two runs each with Wollin taking one of the hit-by-pitches and Benes a pair of hit-by-pitches.
CCCC starter
Aaron Hayes would pitch a total of two innings and strike out three to take a no-decision as
Conner Woods would pick up his second win of the year by throwing three innings and allowing just one hit compared to six strikeouts.
Haden Dow would allow one run in his two innings of work despite recording five strikeouts before turning the ball over to Sanders who struck and kept the Greyhounds hitless in the final two innings to pick up his seventh career save.
What's Next?
Cloud County is set to head south to Edmond, Oklahoma to take part in the 2022 University of Central Oklahoma JUCO Festival which has been pushed back a day due to a weather system that is expected to make its way through the Edmond area during the middle of the week. CCCC will still play three games this weekend, starting with a seven-inning contest against Seminole State College at 4 PM on Friday, February 18th. The T-Birds will then take on Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in a nine-inning contest at 7 PM on Friday night before turning around to play a seven-inning non-conference game against Coffeyville Community College at 10 AM on Saturday.
