GREAT BEND, Kan. – Rallies by the Cloud County Community College baseball team would be turned away by host and number-five nationally-ranked Barton Community College as the T-Birds would drop a 5-4 decision in game one before falling by a score of 7-4 in game two in a Thursday doubleheader at Lawson-Biggs Field in Great Bend, Kansas on April 20th.
Swept in a road doubleheader for just the second time this season, Cloud County is now 28-17 overall and 13-9 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the fifth-ranked Cougars take a 2-0 series lead and improve to 40-5 overall along with a 19-3 mark in the KJCCC.
Game One:
Facing an early deficit, CCCC would fall into a 4-0 hole after an inning of play as a one-out triple and two home runs for Barton would lead to an early advantage for Barton in what would amount to be the only three hits of the first two innings of play for either squad. Stranding a two-out single in the top of the third, Cloud County would see BCC extend their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the inning as a pair of base hits would lead to an unearned run on a throwing error by the T-Birds to face their largest deficit of the day.
Stranding a pair of two-out base hits in the fourth, Cloud County would manage to finally break through in the top of the fifth as a leadoff walk for
Karson Green and one-out
Brock Wollin ground-rule double would put runners in scoring position for an RBI groundout by
Gavin Roy. The run scored in the fifth would prove to be the lone run scored by CCCC through the first six innings of play before seeing a late rally in the final inning of action as back-to-back one-out base runners would manage to knock Barton starter David Stuart from the contest. Keeping the rally going with an RBI base-hit from Roy and base hit from
Danny Infante to load the bases with just one out, the T-Birds would see
Demitri Shakotko follow suit with a two-RBI single to cut the deficit to just one at 5-4 and force yet another Cougar pitching change. Following the pitching change, BCC would retire the final two batters of the game and strand the game-tying run for CCCC at second despite allowing four hits to Cloud County in the inning.
Seeing six of their eight total hits coming in the fourth and seventh innings, only Wollin would finish with more than one hit for the T-Birds with a three-for-three performance in addition to scoring one of the four runs pushed across by CCCC. The redshirt sophomore would also collect the lone extra-base hit by Cloud County as six strikeouts and eight stranded base runners would loom large for CCCC in their sixth loss of the year decided by just one run. Throwing a complete game on the mound and matching a career-high with 10 strikeouts, freshman
Mason McConnaughey would take just his second loss of the year after allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits while throwing 101 total pitches.
Game Two:
With opportunities to push across runs early and often, Cloud County would strand two runners in the top of the first before seeing Barton take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second after a leadoff walk would come around to score on an RBI groundout. It wouldn't take long for the T-Birds to respond as a one-out walk followed by a single and two errors by Barton would bring home a run for CCCC before a go-ahead RBI single from
Demitri Shakotko would be followed by a
Landon Meyer RBI single to give Cloud County a 3-1 lead.
Back-to-back one-out doubles from Barton in the bottom of the fourth would lead to a run for the Cougars to cut the deficit back down to one at 3-2 as the T-Birds would be forced to try and protect their advantage into the fifth. Held without a hit for a second-straight inning, CCCC would see a rally by BCC turn two base-hit singles and a walk load the bases with no outs. A strikeout would briefly slow the Barton offense before a walk to bring home the game-tying run that would be followed by a go-ahead grand slam from Quinton Robertson that would be the big blow to the inning.
Managing to get a run back off Barton reliever Tyrus Riley with an RBI walk for Roy, Cloud County would see a prime opportunity in the top of the sixth go to waste as an infield popout would end the inning with the bases loaded to leave the game-tying runner on base. The next two innings for both teams would see pitching take over as both the T-Birds and Cougars would send the minimum number of batters to the plate in the seventh and eighth innings to keep things at a 7-4 game to leave CCCC with just the top of the ninth to try and mount a comeback. In the ninth, Cloud County would get a one-out double from Roy and a single from Infante to put runners on the corners and bring up the game-tying run represented by Shakotko, but see a strikeout followed by a flyout to right field that would allow BCC to hold on for the second-straight game.
Seeing offensive production come from the top half of the lineup, eight of the nine hits recorded by the T-Birds in the game would come from the top-five players in the batting order with Roy, Shakotko, and Meyer all collecting two hits and one RBI. Another 10 stranded base runners would once again prove costly for CCCC as the T-Birds would have opportunities throughout but could not convert as just two of the nine innings of offense would see runs produced. Three pitchers would see time on the mound for Cloud County, with
Phil Brennaman going five innings while being handed his first loss of the year to fall to 4-1 after striking out seven before seeing
Brady Stuewe (two innings) and
Mason Munz (one inning) combine to throw a hitless final three innings with one strikeout.
What's Next?
Cloud County will look to bounce back on Saturday, April 22nd when the series shifts back to Concordia and Lee Doyen Field to host Barton in a 1 PM doubleheader. The day will also welcome back CCCC baseball alumni with an alumni reunion scheduled for Saturday evening and will see former T-Bird and Cloud County Community College Athletics Hall of Fame member Jared Goedert throw out the first pitch prior to game one.
