CONCORDIA, Kan. – Between 25 runs on 21 hits or allowing just two runs on five total hits, the 2022 home-opening doubleheader for the Cloud County Community College baseball team couldn't have gone much better as the T-Birds would defeat visiting Marshalltown Community College by scores of 10-0 and 15-2 to sweep the day at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, February 26th.
Both games would end in the bottom of the fifth as the T-Birds would go up the 10-run limit to put run rules into effect as both games were scheduled to be seven-inning contests. With the victories, Cloud County improves to 8-1 on the year while Marshalltown drops their first two games of the year to fall to 0-2.
GAME ONE:
Efficiency both offensively and defensively by Cloud County would lead the T-Birds to victory in the series opener as CCCC would get a one-two-three top of the first before jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first despite just one hit as two walks and hit-by-pitch would put two runners aboard while bringing home a run before the first out would be recorded. After back-to-back strikeouts to briefly stop the scoring, sophomore
Williams Camacho-Soto would drive the first pitch of his at-bat off the left-field fence in what would become a two-RBI double that would score both
Tom Poole and
Brock Wollin.
Three strikeouts in the top of the second would allow for sophomore pitcher
Christian Womble to work around a pair of one-out walks and strand a pair of Tiger runners as the T-Birds would get back up to the plate and blow the game open with a four-run inning to go up 7-0. A leadoff double from
Ty Wevers would be followed up two batters later with an
Ian Riley two-run blast to right-center field as a pair of walks would put two more runners on base that would eventually come around to score. Marshalltown would get their first hit of the afternoon in the top of the third on a two-out single before a groundout to third would end the inning as both teams would be held scoreless in the third to keep the game at 7-0 in favor of CCCC.
Two more runs in the bottom of the fourth would nearly allow Cloud County to not need their opportunity at the plate in the bottom of the fifth as a leadoff double by Poole followed by a
Garrett Redden walk would set up the opportunity for both runners to score on a Camacho-Soto RBI single that would see the Burnaby, British Columbia native end up at third after an error trying to field ball by Marshalltown. Another walk issued by the Tiger pitching staff and hit batter would load the bases for Cloud County before a fly out to center field would end the inning with the bases loaded as the score would sit at 9-0 heading to the fifth.
The second one-two-three inning of the game by Womble would bring Cloud County quickly back up to bat as just four batters would be needed to end the game with Poole drawing a one-out walk before advancing to second on a passed ball before being driven in by
Kolden Howerton on an RBI double to end the game.
A complete-game shutout by Womble would come on just 66 pitches for his first victory of the year after allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five and inducing eight ground outs. Howerton, Camacho-Soto, and Wevers would all finish with two hits apiece as six of Cloud County's nine hits would go for extra bases in addition to seven walks and two hit batters to account for 17 base runners.
Game Two:
Game two would be more of the same from the CCCC offense as Cloud County would work around a leadoff walk in the top of the first to strand a runner and get their first chance at the plate where a leadoff no-doubter homer would set the tone for what would become a five-run bottom of the first inning. Following the home run from Riley, Camacho-Soto would hit a bunt single before advancing to third on a two-base throwing error as Poole, Redden, and Wollin would all draw walks in the next three at-bats. Following a pop-out to first,
Alexander Diaz would drive in a pair of runs with a two-RBI single as Pierson would cap off the inning with an RBI single with the five runs coming on four hits and one error.
Marshalltown would finally find their way into the scoring column in the second inning as a leadoff walk and one-out hit batter would put two aboard before a single into right field would load the bases with just one out. A much-needed strikeout from starting pitcher
Cameron Burford would put a second-out on the scoreboard before a two-RBI single from leadoff batter Ernesto Moreno Jr. would get MCC two runs back to cut the deficit to three at 5-2.
After stranding a pair of runners in the bottom of the second, Cloud County would put up a scoreless frame defensively in the top of the third before adding to their lead with three runs on two hits and another costly Marshalltown error as it would be Poole delivering the big hit with a two-run home run to right-center field. The first clean half-inning of the game would come in the top of the fourth as the T-Birds would look to add to their lead in the bottom half of the inning with Wollin hitting a leadoff home run to left field as part of a three-run inning that would see two runs score thanks in part to four balk calls.
Marshalltown would do their best to try and cut into the T-Bird lead in the top of the fifth by putting two of the first three batters in the inning on-base before a groundout and strikeout would end the inning with runners stranded at second and third. Needing just one run to end the game, Cloud County would get a
Jacob Aberg pinch-hit single to start the inning followed by a Poole infield single and
Noah Unzicker walk to load the bases for Wollin. The Cairns, Australia native wouldn't take long to end things as a deep drive to right-center field that would have brought home at least the one necessary run would end up off the scoreboard over the fence for a game-ending grand slam on Wollin's second home run of the game.
Offensively, Cloud County would score 15 runs on 12 hits with 12 runs being driven in by T-Bird players with Wollin driving in five as part of a three-for-three effort at the plate. Soto, Poole, and Pierson would also record multiple hits in the game as four of the 12 hits for Cloud County would be round-trippers with the remaining eight hits all going down as base-hit singles.
A trio of CCCC pitchers would account for the five innings pitched as Burford would throw the first two innings and strike out three before turning things over to
Mason Munz who would pick up his first win of the year after a two-inning performance where he struck out three and did not allow a hit.
Cole Askew would finish off the game by throwing the final inning and allowing one hit while striking out two of the four batters he faced as no Cloud County pitcher would throw more than 43 pitches in the game.
What's Next?
Cloud County and Marshalltown will close out a four-game series on Sunday as the two squads will once again meet for what is scheduled to be a pair of seven-inning contests. First pitch of game one on Sunday will be at 12 PM as the T-Birds will be going for a series victory before playing game two at approximately 2:30 PM.
