NEOSHO, Mo. – Concluding a season-long seven-game road trip, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would earn a 12-3, seven-inning victory over fifth-ranked Crowder College in game one of a Sunday doubleheader before falling in game two by a score of 9-2 in game two at Lallemand Family Field in Neosho, Missouri on February 19th.
 
An extended five-game weekend concludes with Cloud County picking up a win over Eastern Oklahoma State in addition to their game-one victory on Sunday to move to 4-3 overall while the Roughriders now are now 7-4 overall on the year.
 
Game One:
A deceptive final score would see 13 of the 15 runs scored in the game come in the final three innings of the contest as a pitcher's duel would very much be in play through the first four innings of action. After stranding a two-out double by Danny Infante in the top of the first, Cloud County would fall into a 1-0 hole in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single would come around to score with two walks and a hit batter allow Crowder get on the board and threaten to break the game open early on. Following the second free pass being issued to allow the Roughriders to get on the board, T-Bird starting pitcher Phil Brennamen would get out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to keep the deficit at just one.
 
Getting the run back on a Brock Wollin solo home run in the top of the second, both CCCC and Crowder would remain tied after three innings of play with both pitchers settling in with Brennamen retiring eight consecutive batters before issuing a one-out walk in the fourth. With things still tied at 1-1 heading to the top of the fifth, Cloud County would start off a three-run inning with a Karson Green leadoff single before seeing a strikeout and back-to-back hit batters load the bases with one out. With nowhere to put another runner on base, Crowder would see reliever Brett Gastma hit Infante with a pitch to break a 1-1 deadlock before issuing a walk to Justin Johnson to put Cloud County up by two with the bases still loaded and just one out. The T-Birds would tack on one final run with a Wollin fielder's choice to bring home Caden Walker as the three-run inning would come on just one hit.
 
Crowder would cut the now three-run Cloud County lead down to two in their half of the fifth inning with a two-out solo home run as T-Bird reliever Mason McConnaughey would retire the other three batters faced in the inning. Another single run would be scored courtesy of Cloud County in the top of the sixth as a one-out walk by Green would lead to an RBI double for Paul Schuyler to once again put CCCC up three at 5-2. The T-Birds would then break the game open for good in the top of the seventh with a leadoff single from Johnson serving as the first of six hits in the inning with Aidan Malish hitting an RBI double before coming around to score on a Landon Meyer two-run homer with the big blow coming four batters later on an Infante Grand slam to cap off a seven-run inning.
 
Following suit with their previous two runs scored in the contest, Crowder would once again bring home a run on a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh but be able to do no more damage as Cloud County would strand a pair of Roughrider runners to even up the three-game series at one game apiece.
 
Outhitting Crowder 12-3 in the contest, Cloud County would see Infante and Malish lead the way with multiple hits each as Infante would go three-for-four with a season-high five RBI. Both Wollin and Meyer would also drive in multiple runs with two RBI each in the contest as both recorded one of CCCC's six extra-base hits in the contest to go along with four free passes and five hit batters. On the mound, Brennamen would pick up his second win of the season with a four-inning outing that saw Crowder limited to just one run on one hit while striking out four Roughriders. Coming on in relief to throw the final three innings and pick up his first save of the year would be McConnaughey after allowing just two runs on two hits while matching Brennamen's strikeout total of four to give the T-Bird pitching staff eight strikeouts in the game.
 
Game Two:
A much different storyline would be seen in game two as Cloud County would be limited to just three total hits in the game while falling into a 9-0 hole after three innings of play. Giving up back-to-back extra-base hits to begin the game including a two-run home run to fall into a 2-0 hole after an inning of play, the T-Birds would see Crowder use three hits and a walk to put together a four-run inning that would turn a two-run Roughrider lead into a commanding 6-0 advantage.
 
Three more runs would come across in the bottom of the third on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter for Crowder with CCCC starter Cayden Castellanos getting knocked out of the game two batters into the inning to turn things over to Will Yamka. Still seeking their first hit of the contest in the top of the fourth, Cloud County would get a leadoff double from Walker to break up a no-hit bid from Josh Barnhouse before coming around to score on a two-out RBI single from Malish to get the T-Birds on the board. CCCC would then hold the Roughriders scoreless in an inning for the first time in the game by working around a leadoff single to get a strikeout and two flyouts but still have a lot of work to do trailing by eight with just three innings remaining.
 
Another single run would come across for Cloud County in the top of the fifth as a leadoff walk drawn by Jarek Braden and Paul Schuyler single would put runners on first and third with no outs. Crowder would then get a strikeout before issuing a walk to load the bases as a wild pitch would allow pinch-runner Gavin Roy to score and make it a 9-2 game.
 
The next three half-innings would be played without anyone reaching base as Cloud County would again shut down the Roughriders but be unable to produce anything offensively in the top of the sixth. Down to their final three outs, the T-Birds would draw a leadoff walk before seeing a double-play erase any potential rally that CCCC was looking to produce with the game ending on the next batter with a flyout to officially end things.
 
Cloud County's three hits would come from Schuyler, Walker, and Malish with Walker recording the only extra-base hit by the T-Birds to finish as the only player for CCCC to reach base twice in the game. Five stranded runners would be paired with six strikeouts to keep the T-Bird offense in check to be held seven runs under their season average. Five total pitchers would be used by Cloud County in the game, with Yamka, Mason Munz, Cole Askew, and Luke Schmedding all tossing one inning each and recording one strikeout to account for four of CCCC's eight strikeouts as a staff.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County will play their first of two season-long six-game home stands with their 2023 home-opening doubleheader against Marshalltown Community College beginning at 1 PM on Saturday, February 25th. The four-game series will feature a 12 PM doubleheader on Sunday to conclude the series with all games scheduled for seven innings in length. The Tigers opened their 2023 campaign this weekend with four games against Kansas City Kansas Community College, dropping all four contests to the Blue Devils.