EDMOND, Okla. – a 12-hour turnaround to play their third game in an 18-hour span would prove to be to the detriment of the Cloud County Community College baseball team as part of an 8-2 neutral-site defeat to Coffeyville Community College at the University of Central Oklahoma JUCO Festival held at Wendell Simmons Field in Edmond, Oklahoma on Saturday, February 19th.
CCCC's first loss of the year drops the T-Birds to 6-1 overall while Coffeyville picks up their fourth win of the season to move to 4-1 overall ahead of an afternoon contest against Butler Community College down in Edmond.
"Coffeyville came out and played well and took advantage of their opportunities this morning" said head coach
Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We failed to score when we had chances early on and never could capture the momentum that could have possibly allowed us to get back into the game."
The early start to Saturday's contest would have an effect on the offenses in the first few innings of the game as both teams would strand a runner in the first inning despite not recording a hit before both the T-Birds and Red Ravens would allow a base-hit single go to waste in their respective portions of the second frame. Following two quick outs with a groundout and line out to open the top of the third, CCCC would catch their first break of the game as sophomore
Ian Riley would reach base on a fielding error to end up at second for three-hole hitter
Garrett Redden to hit an RBI single to put the first run of the game on the board. Redden would then manage to steal second base before being picked off to end the top of the third as Cloud County would hold a 1-0 lead.
Coffeyville would respond in the bottom of the third as a one-out double would lead to a pair of runs in the very next at-bat as Orlando Gonzalez would connect on a 1-1 pitch to hit a two-run homer that would give the Red Ravens a 2-1 lead after seeing T-Bird pitcher
Christian Womble strike out the next two batters to end the inning. Another stranded runner in the top of the fourth would once again hurt Cloud County as a leadoff walk from
Tom Poole would be stranded 90 feet away from scoring to tie the game as the Red Ravens would strike out the next three batters to maintain their lead.
The missed opportunity by CCCC would allow Coffeyville to grab momentum as the bottom of the fourth would see a leadoff double and RBI single be part of three straight hits to start the inning and put the Red Ravens up 3-1. An RBI groundout would bring home another run before a second RBI single would cap off a three-run inning on four hits as the T-Birds would be facing their largest deficit of the year heading to the fifth.
Facing unfamiliar territory having to play from behind, Cloud County would manage to plate a run in the top of the fifth on one hit as a
Williams Camacho-Soto leadoff double would be driven in on a Riley sacrifice fly, but another stranded runner would continue the theme of the day with CCCC leaving runners on base. Coffeyville would get the run back in the bottom of the fifth as part of a two-out rally that would see four-straight batters reach base before a strikeout would end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
In the final four innings of action, CCCC would be limited to just two hits with one hit coming in both the eighth and ninth inning while seeing the Red Ravens put together five of their 13 hits in their final three opportunities at the plate with a two-run sixth pushing the contest to an 8-2 Coffeyville lead. With the limited offense by the T-Birds, the score would remain the same throughout the seventh and eighth as things would not change in the top of the ninth with the Red Ravens not needing their opportunity at the plate in the inning.
Finishing the game with five hits, Cloud County would strike out a season-high 11 times and strand a total of six runners as no T-Bird would have more than one hit. The lone extra-base hit would come courtesy of Camacho-Soto while Redden, Poole, and Wollin would all steal one base.
Taking the loss on the mound would be Womble after lasting 3.1 innings and allowing five runs on seven hits despite striking out seven batters and issuing one walk. Cloud County would see the final 4.2 innings on defense pitched by six different players who would combine to add six more strikeouts while allowing two runs on six hits.
What's Next?
Cloud County is scheduled to play at Benedictine University JV on Tuesday, February 22nd in a pair of seven-inning games that are slated to be the final two games of a season-opening nine-game road trip for the T-Birds. There is the potential for these games to be postponed or even canceled as a weather system is expected to make its way across the state of Kansas early next week bringing colder temperatures that would not allow for the games to take place. If any changes were to occur, they will be announced as they happen on
www.cloudtbirds.com and on the Cloud County Community College Athletics Facebook page (Cloud County Athletics) and Twitter page (@CCCCSports).
