PRATT, Kan. – A low-scoring extra-innings battle in game one that would lead to a 3-2 win would give the Cloud County Community College baseball team a 2-1 series lead heading into game four where they would defeat Pratt by a score of 6-3 in the finale to earn a series win at Stanion Field in Pratt, Kansas on Sunday, March 20th.
Closing out the series with three straight victories, Cloud County improved to 19-7 overall on the year and 4-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference with the sweep while Pratt suffers their second-straight series defeat to fall to 14-12 overall and 2-6 in the KJCCC.
"We started to look more like ourselves again today" said head coach
Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "The overall approach at the plate was good and we got really gutsy outings on the mound from
Jack Mount,
Haden Dow, and
Rans Sanders." "More than anything, I'm proud of our guys for coming from behind and winning a couple of close and intense games."
GAME ONE:
In similar fashion to Saturday's doubleheader, Pratt would once again jump out to a lead in the first inning as a walk and three errors would allow the Beavers to score a run before seeing an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded keep PCC from putting together a big inning. CCCC would be retired in order in each of the first two innings before breaking through in the top of the third as eight-hole hitter
Ty Wevers would hit a one-out single before coming around to score on
Willie Ponce triple that would tie the game at 1-1. Following Ponce would be
Garrett Redden who would put the T-Birds on top with an RBI double as three hits would lead to the two runs and allow Cloud County to take their first lead of the game.
Retiring Pratt in order in the bottom of the third, CCCC would appear to have a prime opportunity to add to their lead in the top of the fourth as two hit batters and a base-hit single would all occur with two outs to load the bases. Unfortunately for the T-Birds a pop-out to second base would end the inning with all three runners stranded as leaving runners on base would be a problem throughout the contest. Two more Cloud County errors in the bottom of the fifth would allow PCC to turn a leadoff single into a game-tying run to knot things at 2-2 as both starting pitchers would manage to put together efficient starts.
Opportunities for Pratt to break the 2-2 tie in both the bottom of the sixth and seventh would be shut down by reliever
Rans Sanders as would a potential T-Bird rally in the top of the seventh as a total of six runners would be stranded throughout the inning and a half to send things into extra-innings. Facing their first extra-innings contest of the year, CCCC would threaten to go ahead in the top of the eighth as a leadoff single and walk would put two runners on for
Ian Riley to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with just one out. A clutch hit would not be found however as a strikeout and unassisted groundout would end the inning with both runners stranded to open the door once again for the Beavers.
Pratt would be unable to take advantage of their opportunity at the plate as a one-two-three inning would force a second extra-inning of play where the T-Birds would put together a two-out rally and make sure that they did not face the same fate as the top of the eighth. Extending the inning following back-to-back outs would be Redden with a single before a
Tom Poole walk would bring up
Kolden Howerton who would hit a go-ahead RBI single. The one run scored by CCCC would prove to be just enough offense as Sanders would come back out for his fourth inning of work and end the game with a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts to give Cloud County their second-straight win.
A total of 20 runners (11 by Cloud County) would be stranded in the contest as both teams would struggle on the offensive end by combining for 16 strikeouts. Nine of the strikeouts would come from the T-Bird duo of
Jack Mount (five) and Sanders (four) with Sanders getting his first win of the year in relief after throwing 50 pitches over four innings and allowing just one hit and one walk. On the offensive end, Wevers, Howerton, and Redden would all record two hits each to account for six of the nine Cloud County hits, with Howerton and Redden each driving in a run.
GAME TWO:
Forced to come from behind yet again in the series finale, CCCC would face a 2-0 deficit heading to the third as a leadoff double and one-out sacrifice bunt would put a runner on third before a fielding error that would have ended the inning allowed the first run of the game to score. A second error in the inning would lead to another unearned for the Beavers as the two runs would come on just one hit as Pratt would be the first team to score in each of the four games in the series.
Cloud County would be limited to the minimum number of batters through the first three innings but managed to limit the deficit as Pratt would be held to one hit in each of the first three innings. The top of the fourth would prove to be the big inning that the T-Birds would need to take the lead as a one-out single from Redden set up a Poole RBI triple that would be followed by a Howerton RBI double to tie things at 2-2. After a strikeout would put a second out on the board, Riley would extend the inning by drawing a walk despite falling behind in the count 1-2 to bring up
Griffin Stuewe who would hit a go-ahead RBI single to score Howerton. Wevers added an additional run in the next at-bat with an RBI double to score Riley as CCCC would push across four runs on five hits in the inning.
Things settled back down for the next inning and a half as Pratt would be retired in order in both the fourth and fifth while Cloud County would suffer a one-two-three inning in their end of the fifth to keep things at 4-2 T-Bird lead. Stuewe would once again come through with a key hit in the top of the sixth as the Topeka, Kansas native would connect on a one-out two-RBI single to add two insurance runs for Cloud County that would make the score 6-2 to put CCCC just six outs away from a series victory.
Pratt would not go away quietly, however, using a one-out walk and RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to pull back within three and run up the pitch count of T-Bird starting pitcher
Haden Dow just enough to force a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh. Turning the ball over to freshman
Brady Stuewe, Cloud County would work around a two-out walk as the game-tying run never would come to the plate in the final two innings to allow CCCC to finish the series with three-straight wins.
Dow's six-inning outing would come on 87 total pitches with eight strikeouts offsetting three runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk.
Brady Stuewe would earn his first save of the year with a hitless seventh while facing four total batters to close out the game. Stranded runners for Cloud County would be limited to just five in the contest as four of CCCC's nine hits would go for extra bases. Howerton and Redden would once again each collect two hits at the plate to be joined by
Griffin Stuewe who also had two hits and drove in a game-high three RBIs.
What's Next?
Cloud County will be off until Thursday after playing nine games in the past eight days as a much-needed break will make way for a four-game series against Dodge City beginning at Lee Doyen Field on March 24th. The Conquistadors are 14-9 overall and 5-3 in the KJCCC with a series sweep over Seward County before dropping their series past weekend with Barton three games to one. After earning a 6-5 win in game one over the Cougars, DC3 would be outscored 36-6 in the final three games of the series.
