KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Producing runs in the first, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth innings, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would build leads of 4-0 and 6-1 to knock off 14th-ranked Kansas City Kansas Community College by a final score of 6-3 at the KCKCC Baseball Field in Kansas City, Kansas on Tuesday, May 3rd.
Concluding the regular season with a 39-15 overall record, Cloud County concludes their non-conference campaign with an 18-4 record while handing KCKCC just their eighth loss of the year to drop the Blue Devils to 43-8 overall. Of CCCC's 22 non-conference games, nine would come against schools that compete in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division with the T-Birds posting a 7-2 record against those schools.
"I thought we put together a pretty complete performance today" said head coach
Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We just played good baseball for nine-innings, and it showed with a win over a nationally-ranked opponent." "We got a big-time start from
Aaron Hayes and
Ian Riley had one of his best days as a T-Bird at the plate to carry us offensively." "It was a good way to end the regular season and head into postseason play."
Wasting little time to get on the scoreboard would be the T-Birds as sophomore
Ian Riley would hit a one-out triple on the seventh pitch of his at-bat before seeing
Danny Infante drive him home on a sacrifice fly to tie the single-season school-record in runs scored. Holding Kansas City Kansas scoreless in the bottom of the first, CCCC would go down in order in the top of the second before returning the favor to KCKCC with a groundout and two flyouts in the bottom half of the inning.
Two quick outs in the top of the third would look to send things back over to the Blue Devils offensively, but sophomore
Willie Ponce would extend the inning with a single before getting brought home on a Riley two-run home run to make the score 3-0 with the Austin, Texas native now the solo record-holder for runs scored in a single-season to surpass Kipp Oertle from 1989. Another one-two-three from starting pitcher
Aaron Hayes would allow Cloud County to take their 3-0 lead into the fourth where CCCC would threaten with a leadoff single from
Garrett Redden and
Tom Poole hit-by-pitch before stranding both runners as KCKCC would escape without any damage done.
Working a hitless bottom of the fourth, Hayes would allow the T-Birds to get back on the offensive side in the top of the fifth where Riley would be at it again by drawing a one-out walk to set up a
Kolden Howerton two-out, RBI double to add to the CCCC lead. One final inning of work for Hayes would be capped off with his third one-two-three inning of the game while allowing just one hit on the day.
Unable to turn a two-out walk into anything in the sixth, Cloud County would see Kansas City Kansas breakthrough with back-to-back singles in the bottom of the sixth to set up a one-out RBI single to bring the game-tying runner to the plate. Facing a threat for the first time all game, CCCC would manage to induce a flyout for a key second out before seeing reliever
Brady Stuewe out duel Blued Devil right fielder Pablo Sanchez by getting a swing and miss for a third strike on the 12th pitch of the at-bat to end the inning with two runners stranded.
Looking to get the run back in the top of the seventh, the T-Birds would once again turn to Riley as a hit-by-pitch and stolen base would set up a scoring opportunity on a wild pitch to make it 5-1 with Riley responsible for scoring four of the five runs. CCCC would see the inning end two batters later as an Infante single would set up an inning-ending double play for the Blue Devils. Despite the double-play to end their time at the plate, Cloud County would continue their strong play on defense as KCKCC would go hitless in the bottom of the seventh and start to see their chances at the plate become more and more limited with a four-run deficit.
One final run for the T-Birds would be pushed across in the top of the ninth as a
Karson Green double would be followed by a
Tristan Tenorio groundout and Ponce sacrifice fly to give CCCC their largest lead of the day. Just three outs away from securing their second win of the year over a ranked opponent, the T-Birds would run into more trouble as a leadoff walk would be followed up with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Getting the first out of the inning on a strikeout, Cloud County would then trade a run for an out on an RBI groundout for KCKCC that would make the score 6-2 before allowing another double in the inning to see the lead cut down to three at 6-3. The Blue Devil rally would end there however as a groundout to Ponce at shortstop would end the game for a CCCC win.
Six of Cloud County's eight hits would come from six different players as Infante would be the lone T-Bird to record multiple hits in the game while Riley would finish as the only player to drive in more than one run in the contest in addition to a career-high four runs scored. Four of the eight hits by CCCC would go for extra bases in addition to drawing two walks and having two batters hit by pitches while stranding just five runners in the contest.
The five-inning outing by Hayes would include three strikeouts and just one walk issued as the Weatherford, Texas native would improve to 6-1 on the year. Other Cloud County players to pitch in the game included Stuewe (1.0 inning),
Cole Askew (2.0 innings), and
Brady Kobitowich (1.0 inning).
What's Next?
The waiting game begins for Cloud County as the T-Birds will be off this weekend from KJCCC play while 16 of the other 17 remaining schools will conclude their conference season with one final series. Finishing conference play with a 21-11 mark, CCCC can finish no worse than third in the KJCCC West with a chance to finish as high as second depending on the outcome of this weekend's Colby vs Barton series. The opening round of the NJCAA Region VI playoffs will begin on Wednesday, May 10th at Lee Doyen Field with the T-Birds hosting just their second postseason playoffs series in program history. The last time CCCC hosted a playoff series, Cloud County defeated Allen County two games to none to advance to the double-elimination portion of the Region VI/Plains District Tournament for the first time in program history. Official pairings for the opening round best-of-three series across the KJCCC are set to be announced following the conclusion of this weekend's final games across the conference.
