CONCORDIA, Kan. – Not much would go wrong for the Cloud County Community College baseball team as the T-Birds would have a clean defensive day along with two quality starts on the mound and hot-swinging bats to take a home doubleheader over Seward County Community College by scores of 13-2 and 15-4 in two run-rule shortened victories at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Sunday, March 19th.
 
Closing out the series with three-straight wins after dropping the series opener on Friday afternoon, Cloud County earns their fourth doubleheader sweep of the season to improve to 14-9 overall and 5-3 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division while the Saints fall to 12-17 overall and 3-5 in the KJCCC after dropping their first conference series of the year.
 
GAME ONE:
A two-run top of the first for SCCC would see the Saints load the bases with one out before getting an RBI single and sacrifice fly to plate two early runs and still have a chance to add more. Extending the inning with a walk to load the bases, the Saints would be unable to push across any more runs in the inning as a flyout would end the inning and strand three runners with CCCC able to escape with limited damage. It wouldn't take long for Cloud County to pull back even as a leadoff double from Paul Schuyler and Gavin Roy infield single would put two runners on before a Demitri Shakoto single and Danny Infante two-RBI double into the left-center field gap would tie the game and put two runners in scoring position with still nobody out. Following an RBI groundout to give CCCC the lead, Landon Meyer would get the T-Bird offense back in its groove with a two-run home run to ignite the offense again four of the next five batters for Cloud County would safely reach base to knock the Seward County starting pitcher from the game. Two more runs would come in the inning to cap off a nine-run inning that would see 14 batters sent to the plate by CCCC to take a 9-2 lead after an inning of play.
 
Working around a walk in the top of the second, Cloud County would add to their lead with a run on a Brock Wollin RBI double in the bottom of the inning and plate another run on a Kolden Howerton RBI single to extend a T-Bird season-high hitting streak to nine games as CCCC would find themselves up 11-2 after three innings and potentially on their way to a run-rule victory. SCCC would strand another runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth after a leadoff double would be unable to advance on three consecutive groundouts as Cloud County would be in full control heading to the bottom of the inning. Needing to push across at least one run to stretch their advantage to double-digits, the T-Birds would put together a two-out rally with two runners aboard by getting an infield single from Shakotko before an Infante two-RBI single through the right side of the infield to extend the lead to 13-2. CCCC starting pitcher Blayne Fritcher would do the rest in the top of the fifth, inducing a lineout before back-to-back strikeouts to end the game and allow Cloud County to take a series lead heading into the series finale.
 
Eight of the nine batters in the T-Bird batting order would finish with at least one hit as the top four batters (Schuyler, Roy, Shakotko, and Infante) would account for 11 of CCCC's 16 total hits. Six of the 16 hits would go for extra bases with all six extra-base hits coming from different players while Infante would drive home a game-high four runs as part of a three-for-four effort at the plate. Throwing Cloud County's first complete game of the season would be Fritcher to improve to 3-1 overall after allowing just two runs on five hits and striking out three while needing just 75 total pitches to go the distance on the mound.
 
GAME TWO:
Once again conceding an early lead, Seward County would take a 1-0 lead following the first batter of the game as a leadoff home run by Carson Cartwright would put the Saints up 1-0 despite SCCC recording just one hit in the inning. As a follow-up to their nine-run bottom of the first inning in game one, the Cloud County bats would once again come out swinging with the first six batters of the inning all reaching base with Infante again delivering with a two-RBI double that would be followed by a walk and two-RBI single from Meyer to make it a 4-1 game in favor of CCCC. The T-Birds would go on to add four more runs in the inning with all four runs coming with two outs as a Justin Johnson two-RBI double and Schuyler two-run homer capping off an eight-run inning.
 
A relatively quick top of the second would see Cloud County starting pitcher Jack Mount work around a one-out single to notch three strikeouts in the inning. CCCC would be held scoreless in their end of the second to send things to the top of the third where the best chance of the game for Seward County would occur with a one-out solo home run beginning a rally that would lead to three runs on three hits as a two-out two-RBI double bringing the Saints within four at 8-4 after beginning the inning with a seven-run deficit.
 
Taking advantage of a Logan Scully leadoff double to push a run home two batters later on a Schuyler RBI single after chasing SCCC starting pitcher Tristan Curless from the contest. Both teams would be set down in order in the fourth before seeing another one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth from Mount to cap off his day and leave the game in line to pick up his first pitching victory of the year. Scoring a solo run following another Scully leadoff double that would come around to score on a Roy RBI single, Cloud County would take a 10-4 lead to the sixth where they would keep Seward County off the scoreboard despite issuing a leadoff walk.
 
Things would change once again in the bottom of the sixth as the T-Birds would put together four-straight one-out hits with Scully and Johnson each driving in a run to give Cloud County a 12-4 lead with two runners still on base that would represent a potential 10-run lead that would put CCCC in a position to close out the game in the top of the seventh if they could push across both runners in the sixth. After a strikeout would put a second out on the board and threaten to end the Cloud County rally, the T-Birds would get a Shakotko two-RBI single back up the middle to score both runners that would be followed by an Infante RBI single to score Shakotko and provide an insurance run to the 10-run lead heading to the top of the seventh. In their final chance at the plate, Seward County would be retired in order for the third time in the game with a lineout, flyout, and groundout ending the game by run rule and giving Cloud County a series victory.
 
Matching his game-one output with another three-for-four effort would be Infante to go along with two more runs driven in to finish the series with seven hits and eight RBI. Also recording three hits in the game would be Schuyler and Scully with Schuyler scoring three times and driving in three runs while all three of Scully's hits would go for extra-bases. Striking out six batters in a five-inning outing on the mound would be Mount who would pick up his first pitching win of the year while improving to 1-2 overall. Finishing off the final two innings of the game would be Will Yamka with a nearly-perfect outing, allowing just one walk while striking out two in a hitless appearance.
 
What's Next?
A five-game week gets underway on Tuesday, March 21st for Cloud County with a 2 PM home non-conference game against Highland Community College at Lee Doyen Field. The Scotties are 7-16 overall and have dropped their past nine games including a four-game non-conference series against Butler Community College on their conference bye week this past week. CCCC and HCC have met five times since 2019, with Cloud County winning four of the five matchups including a doubleheader sweep in Highland last year.