DODGE CITY, Kan. – On the road to open their final Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division series of the year, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would be one-hit in a 1-0 loss to Dodge City Community College before bouncing back with a late rally to win game two by a score of 12-6 to split a doubleheader at Cavalier Field in Dodge City, Kansas on Thursday, May 4th.
 
Remaining two-games ahead of Dodge City for the fourth seed in the KJCCC West, Cloud County is 34-19 overall and 19-11 in conference action while the Conquistadors remain at .500 overall with a 27-27 overall record while moving to 17-13 in league play.
 
Game One:
Finishing in a blitzing hour and 10 minutes, offense would be as limited as things could possibly get in the series opener with the two teams managing to send just two batters over the minimum number required in the game with DCCC securing two of the three hits in the game. With a solo home run for the Conquistadors in the bottom of the second accounting for the lone base runner through three innings of action, Cloud County would break up a perfect game bid with a leadoff base runner in the top of the fourth after a throwing error by Dodge City before seeing a double play and strike out end the inning with reigning KJCCC West Pitcher of the Week Justus Revill facing the minimum through four.
 
The second hit of the game for Dodge City would follow in the bottom of the fourth before seeing a pair of strikeouts sandwich a caught stealing on the base paths for the Conquistadors as T-Bird starter Mason McConnaughey would look back to his old form with just the one blemish coming in the form of the solo home run through his first four innings of work. Drawing another leadoff base runner in the form of a walk for Demitri Shakotko to extend a 19-game reached base streak, a double play on a strikeout and batter interference on a stolen base attempt would again allow Dodge City to erase a game-tying base runner and maintain their one-run lead into the sixth.
 
Still looking for their first hit, CCCC would send two pinch-hitters to the plate in the top of the sixth but still come away empty-handed as two groundouts and a strikeout would continue a no-hit bid by Revill into the final inning of action with DCCC still trying to protect a one-run lead. Breaking up the no-hitter after six innings would be freshman Paul Schuyler with a leadoff single in the top of the seventh, but nothing else would work in favor of Cloud County in the inning as back-to-back strikeouts would set up a game-ending flyout to hand CCCC their second 1-0 loss of the year in conference play.
 
The loss for the T-Birds would come despite a 10-strikeout performance from McConnaughey who fell to 7-4 on the year as both starting pitchers would go the distance on the mound and record 10 punchouts while allowing just one walk.
 
Game Two:
After seeing scoring and offense be nearly non-existent in the series opener, things would have a much different look in game two of the day as a scoreless opening inning would be followed by a leadoff walk for Shakotko to set up a Brock Wollin two-run home run to give CCCC their first lead of the afternoon after an inning and a half. Dodge City would follow suit with the long ball in the bottom of the second by hitting a leadoff home run in the second for the second-straight game to cut the Cloud County lead in half at 2-1 before stranding a pair of runners in scoring position after putting runners at second and third with just one out.
 
Playing a scoreless third, CCCC and DCCC would get the scoring started back up in the top of the fourth as Wollin would record a leadoff single before coming around to score on an Alex Diaz RBI single with two outs in the inning to go back up by a two-run margin at 3-1. Allowing back-to-back one-out hits, the T-Birds would see Dodge City push across a run to get back within a run once again at 3-2 before hitting a go-ahead two-run homer that would put the Conquistadors up 4-3 heading to the fifth.
 
Not much time would be wasted by CCCC to pull back even with Dodge City as a leadoff single from Gavin Roy would be coupled with a stolen base to move into scoring position to come around and score three batters later on an Anthony Taggart RBI single. With the game now tied at 4-4, neither team would be able to keep up their offensive pace in the sixth before seeing a one-out double and two-out double lead to a run for DCCC in the bottom of the seventh to reclaim the lead for the second time in the game with their third one-run lead of the afternoon.
 
Facing another late-inning deficit, Cloud County would use a Kolden Howerton leadoff single and a throwing error by Dodge City with Karson Green at the plate to put two runners in scoring position for Diaz who would ensure that both runs would come home in his time at bat with a go-ahead three-run home run putting CCCC up 7-5. With the lineup flipped over to the top and leadoff batter Schuyler due up, the Bellevue, Nebraska native would go back-to-back with homers by hitting a solo shot to make it an 8-5 lead and give the T-Birds momentum to go on and add one more run as part of a five-run inning.
 
Dodge City would get one run back in the bottom of the eighth as a one-out single and hit batter would be followed by a two-out RBI single to get back within three and begin to apply pressure on CCCC with the game-tying run at the plate, but a determined Cole Askew would work a strikeout to end the inning and strand two runners to ensure that momentum would not swing back in the direction of the Conquistadors. Another big inning for Cloud County in the top of the ninth would see a leadoff walk issued to Howerton start what would become a three-run inning with Schuyler also drawing a walk to set up a three-run homer for Roy as CCCC would score nine of their 12 runs in the game off the long ball while going on to double up DCCC following a scoreless bottom of the ninth to close things out.
 
Responding well by pounding out 13 hits and seeing four different players record multi-hit games, Cloud County would see six of their hits go for extra-bases with Roy leading all players in the contest with three hits. Diaz would drive home a game-best four runs which included the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth on his fifth home run of the year as part of a two-for-five performance at the plate in the nine-hole.
 
Five different pitchers for Cloud County would see action on the mound with starter Phil Brennaman going 4.1 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits before turning things over to Cayden Castellanos who would work out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth with an inning-ending double play for his only two outs of the game. Sophomore Brady Stuewe would toss the next 1.2 innings before seeing Blayne Fritcher come on and get out of another jam for the T-Birds to ultimately pick up his fifth win of the year after seeing CCCC go ahead in the top of the eighth before giving the ball over to Askew who threw the final two innings and struck out two of the 10 batters he faced.
 
What's Next?
Shifting the series back to Concordia, Cloud County will play their final two games of the regular season with a 1 PM doubleheader against the Conquistadors at Lee Doyen Field on May 6th. Weekend games at home have been good to CCCC this year, with the T-Birds holding a 9-1 record at Lee Doyen field in games played on Saturday or Sunday this season while holding a 19-7 record across all home games this season. A win on Saturday in either game will see Cloud County secure at minimum a third-place finish in the KJCCC West with the potential for a second-place finish still a possibility.