CONCORDIA, Kan. – Suffering a series-opening defeat in game one by a score of 9-3, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would respond in game two by earning an 8-3 win over Pratt Community College to split a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, March 19th.
Cloud County now sits at 17-7 overall and 2-4 in the KJCCC while Pratt moves to 14-10 overall while sitting at 2-4 in conference play.
GAME ONE:
Allowing a hit batter and stolen base in the top of the first would lead to a run for Pratt as the Beavers would get an RBI single that would fall just inside the left-field line to get out to an early lead despite three strikeouts in the inning. A leadoff bunt single from
Ian Riley would set up a
Danny Infante two-run homer in the bottom of the first with a line-drive shot over the left-center field fence that would put the T-Birds up 2-1 for their first lead of the contest.
PCC would respond with a leadoff walk followed by a bunt single and RBI single to tie the game at 2-2 before a groundout would put a second out on the board. Back-to-back hit batters would allow Pratt to reclaim the lead 3-2 while keeping the bases loaded to force a CCCC pitching change that would be followed by an RBI walk to cap off a three-run inning for the Beavers to go back out in front by a 4-2 margin. A
Brock Wollin one-out single would be erased later in the bottom of the second on a stolen base attempt that would see PCC catcher Devon Nicholson throw out the Cairns, Australia native as the T-Birds would be held scoreless in their half of the inning.
A scoreless third for both squads would keep things at a 4-2 Beaver lead until the top of the fourth when Pratt would get a leadoff walk and two-run home run to add to their lead as a second homer in the inning would come with two outs to cap off a three-run inning on two hits to give PCC a 7-2 lead. Cloud County would get a run back with a solo shot of their own in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of
Tom Poole in what would be the only hit of the inning for CCCC to make it a 7-3 deficit heading to the fifth.
The final three innings of the game would see Pratt tack on two runs on a hit in the sixth as the T-Birds would be limited to just one hit among their final 12 batters with a walk by Poole,
Tristan Tenorio pinch-hit single, and
Alexander Diaz hit-by-pitch leading to three stranded runners as the Beavers never would see CCCC mount a serious threat of a comeback to take the series opener for just their second win over Cloud County in the past five years.
Just five hits would be had by the T-Birds in the contest with no player for CCCC recording more than one hit as nine strikeouts and four stranded runners proved to be problematic for Cloud County. Pratt meanwhile would score nine runs on seven hits and four walks to go along with three hit batters as free passes proved to be a problem throughout the game for the T-Bird pitching staff with four of the nine runs getting on-base without a hit.
GAME TWO:
Early scoring would be limited in the back end of the twin bill as Pratt would break through for a run on a sacrifice fly after a leadoff hit batter and walk would put two runners on with no outs for the Beavers. A stolen base and throwing error with two outs would allow sophomore
Ian Riley to move from first to third with two outs before a second PCC error in the bottom of the second would extend the inning and allow CCCC to tie things at 1-1 as the T-Birds would strand a pair of runners in scoring position with a strikeout ending the inning.
Pratt would get a pair of walks in the third mixed with three strikeouts from Cloud County starting pitcher
Christian Womble who would manage to end the inning with runners at first and third before seeing the T-Bird offense go down in order with three flyouts in their portion of the third. Womble would work his first one-two-three inning of the game in the fourth before seeing Cloud County take their first lead of the game in the bottom half of the inning with a one-out triple down the right field line from
Kolden Howerton coming around to score on a wild pitch with Riley at the plate. Three more runs would come across for CCCC in the bottom of the fifth as a hit batter and walk to start the inning would set up a Howerton RBI double to score Poole followed by a Riley triple on a diving effort from Pratt center fielder Michael Acosta. A balk would bring Riley to put Cloud County up 5-1 as the offensive production would allow the T-Birds to send Womble out for another inning of work.
The Beavers would turn a two-out walk into a run in the top of the sixth as an RBI double would bring home the second run of the game for PCC as both teams would score a run in the sixth to keep things at a four-run margin. Two more runs would be scored by CCCC in the bottom of the seventh as an
Adler Pierson two-RBI single with one out would give the T-Birds their largest lead of the game and just six outs away from earning a split of the doubleheader. Pratt would get a solo home-run from their designated hitter in the top of the eighth in what would become the final run scored in the game following a scoreless bottom of the eighth from Cloud County and top of the ninth from the Beavers to give CCCC their first win in five games.
Sparking the T-Bird offense would be Howerton who would go three-for-four with an RBI and two runs scored while six other CCCC players would record one hit each. Pierson's two-RBI single in the seventh would produce a game-high two runs batted in while adding one of Cloud County's five stolen bases.
Going six innings strong on the mound would be Womble who would improve to 4-1 overall after throwing 97 pitches and allowing two runs on one hit while striking out six in the game. Connor Woods would earn a three-inning save in relief after allowing just one run on one hit and adding three strikeouts to give the T-Birds nine strikeouts in the contest.
What's Next?
Cloud County and Pratt will conclude their four-game series on Sunday, March 20th with a 1 PM doubleheader at Stanion Field in Pratt. The winner of game one on Sunday will have an opportunity to win the series in game two as Cloud County has won each of the last four series played between CCCC and PCC with Pratt last winning a series between teams in 2015.
