CONCORDIA, Kan. – A day off and a return to action at home would be just what the Cloud County Community College baseball team needed as the Thunderbirds would take a 4-2 and 12-5 decision over Hutchinson Community College to sweep a doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, April 16th.
Bouncing back from a pair of road defeats on Thursday, Cloud County manages to earn a split of the four-game series with the Blue Dragons while improving to 34-10 overall and 17-7 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference to stay a game back of first place. Hutchinson falls to 21-18 overall and 11-9 in the KJCCC with the defeats with 12 of their 18 losses coming away from Hobart-Detter Field.
"I'm very proud of how we responded after two tough losses on Thursday on the road" said head coach
Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We got two excellent starts from
Jack Mount and
Joel Benes and it was good to see the offense come alive in game two."
GAME ONE:
Offense would be hard to come by in the early stages of the opening game of the doubleheader as neither team would record a hit through the first two innings with just three walks and an error accounting for base runners. A leadoff walk would prove costly for Cloud County in the top of the third as a failed pickoff would move the runner into scoring position before a wild pitch later in the inning would bring home the first run of the game. Facing a 1-0 deficit, CCCC would turn a one-out single from
Alexander Diaz into a run of their own as
Tristan Tenorio and
Ian Riley would both follow with singles of their own to load the bases and set up an
Adler Pierson sacrifice fly to score Diaz.
Following the one run from each team in the third, a scoreless fourth inning would send things to the top of the fifth where the T-Birds would retire the Blue Dragons in order for the second straight inning to get back up to the plate where Diaz would lead off the inning with another single. Needing to get the go-ahead run in scoring position, Tenorio would sacrifice himself with a bunt to move Diaz to second before seeing Riley hit by a pitch as both runners would advance on a wild pitch to put runners at second and third. Pierson would put a second out on the board with an infield popup, but HCC would elect to intentionally walk freshman
Tom Poole with first-base open. The intentional free pass would not be to the benefit of Hutchinson as cleanup batter
Kolden Howerton would make the Blue Dragons pay with a bases-clearing three-RBI double that would not only put CCCC up by also provide some insurance runs by making it a 4-1 ball game.
Some early trouble in the top of the sixth for Cloud County would see CCCC issue a walk and single to put two runners on before a fly out and error on a fielder's choice bring home a run and put a runner in scoring position. With the game-tying run now on base, the T-Birds would turn to their bullpen and bring in sophomore
Conner Woods who would allow a wild pitch before striking out back-to-back batters to strand both base runners and keep things at a 4-2 contest.
Unable to add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth, the T-Birds would make a second move to the bullpen and bring in sophomore closer
Rans Sanders to try and deal with the 8-9-1 batters in the lineup. After allowing a pinch-hit leadoff walk on a nine-pitch at-bat, Sanders would settle in to get an infield popup followed by a pair of fly balls to left field that would be caught to end the game and give CCCC their first win of the series.
Overcoming three errors on the defensive end, the T-Birds would turn six hits into four runs with Howerton driving in three of the four runs in addition to drawing two walks. Diaz would lead the team with two hits in the contest as only two hits of the six would go for extra bases. Mount would earn his third win of the year after striking out six and allowing two runs on two hits before seeing Woods work two-thirds of an inning and Sanders pick up his fourth save of the year with a scoreless seventh.
GAME TWO:
The late offensive spark found in game one would manage to carry over into game two as CCCC would turn two hits in the bottom of the first into a run as Pierson would drive home Riley following a leadoff bunt single and stolen base. Retiring the first six batters he faced, Benes would manage to work around a pair of singles to start the top of the third before seeing the offense for Cloud County once again go to work two hits, three walks, and an error accounting for a four-run bottom of the third that saw Pierson, Howerton,
Garrett Redden, and
Williams Camacho-Soto all drive in a run.
Now working with a five-run lead, Benes would go back to work on the mound and get another one-two-three inning before seeing the T-Birds blow the game open with four more runs on two more hits, a walk, and four hit batters with the Blue Dragon bullpen starting to struggle to find their command. CCCC would be unable to add to their nine-run lead in the bottom of the fifth before seeing HCC break through for four runs (three unearned) in the top of the sixth as a two-out error would prove costly.
A leadoff home run for Poole to start the bottom of the sixth would get one run back for Cloud County as the T-Birds would go back up six runs heading to the top of the seventh where they would keep the Blue Dragons off the scoreboard for the sixth time in the contest. Picking up another run on a
Brock Wollin RBI single to score Diaz, CCCC would look to be in a position to potentially end the contest early with a few more runs but wind up stranding a runner to take an 11-4 lead into the top of the eighth.
After another scoreless frame defensively courtesy of
Aaron Hayes, CCCC would tack on one more run in the bottom of the eighth as Poole would go yard for the second time in the contest to close within three of the single-season record set by Rico Gholston in 1990 to hold a 12-4 lead and just three outs away from sweeping the day. Hutchinson would manage to hit back-to-back base hits in the top of the ninth following a leadoff fly out, pushing across one run before a game-ending double-play would strand a runner at second and end any possibility of mounting a final-inning comeback.
All facets of the offensive attack would be working in the game for CCCC as nine hits, seven walks, and four hit batters would offset four strikeouts and seven stranded base runners for the T-Birds with the top six batters in the lineup accounting for all nine hits. Riley, Pierson, and Poole would all record two hits apiece with Poole and Howerton driving in three runs each as Poole would account for two of
Cloud County's three extra-base hits.
Five shutout innings from Benes on the mound would allow the T-Birds to get out to a big lead that would never be jeopardized as
Jacob Shaw,
Brady Stuewe, Hayes,
Jared Stuewe, and
Mason Munz would all see action on the mound. Benes would account for all five strikeouts recorded by CCCC as Cloud County would only issue a total of two walks in the contest.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Cloud County will play a non-conference road game for the first time since March 4th when they head to nationally ranked Cowley Community College for a 3 PM start on Tuesday, April 19th. Cowley has won seven straight to improve to 32-7 overall following a four-game sweep of Johnson County Community College over the weekend.
