CONCORDIA, Kan. – Behind a pitching gem in game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team opened a four-game series with reigning NJCAA Region IX Champion Southeast Community College by splitting a home doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field on Thursday, February 22nd.
Winning the series opener by a score of 5-1 in seven innings, the T-Birds fell in the back end of Thursday's action by a score of 11-6 after seeing a 6-4 lead going into the top of the ninth erased by a seven-run inning for Southeast as CCCC is now 8-3 overall on the season. SCC moves to 5-3 overall after splitting the doubleheader as all eight games for the Bobcats have come against Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference foes.
Game One:
With their ace on the mound in redshirt sophomore
Kevin Mannell making his third start of the season, Cloud County erased a leadoff single for Southeast by getting a strikeout and inning-ending double play on a ball one-hopped back to the mound. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, a one-out single from
Gavin Roy was also erased in the bottom of the first with a lineout turning into an inning-ending double play of their own as both teams went scoreless after sending the minimum to the plate in the inning.
Three straight groundouts in the top of the second allowed CCCC to get back to the plate where back-to-back singles from
Noah Konings and
Jakob Poturnak put two runners on for
Landon Meyer who drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. A
Nolan Freund sacrifice fly brought home the first run of the game to put Cloud County up 1-0 as two more flyouts ended the inning and stranded a pair for the T-Birds.
A quick third inning saw both teams face the minimum as the score remained 1-0 in favor of Cloud County until the bottom of the fourth when CCCC saw Konings lead off with a double down the right field line before a Poturnak RBI single to double the T-Bird lead at 2-0. A chance to add to their lead with runners at first and second following a single from Meyer was put to a halt as a fielder's choice on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt was followed by a strikeout and infield popup to end the inning and keep things at a two-run lead for Cloud County.
The two-run lead was plenty to work with for Mannell as the Topeka, Kansas native never allowed more than one runner to reach base in any of his six innings of work as 10 strikeouts kept the Bobcat hitters at bay throughout. In the bottom of the sixth, Cloud County found a way to push across some insurance runs with Freund hitting a one-out single before a
Cam MaCleod hit-by-pitch to put runners on first and second. After seeing Freund picked off at second to put a second out on the board, CCCC had
Easton Norris draw a walk to flip the lineup over to
Paul Schuyler who was hit by a pitch to load the bases to continue the inning with
Gavin Roy drawing an RBI walk to bring up
Demitri Shakotko who hit a two-RBI single to finish off a three-run inning.
Working with a 5-0 lead and needing just three outs to finish off a win, Cloud County turned things over to
Carson Latimer who gave up a one-out single and walk followed by a pair of wild pitches which ended a shutout bid from the T-Bird pitching staff with SCC being limited to just the one run and never posing a major threat to mount a final-inning comeback.
The 10-strikeout game for Mannell came on just 76 pitches as two batters reached on hit-by-pitches along with two hits. As a team, Cloud County collected 10 hits offensively and were led by two-hit games from Shakotko, Konings, and Poturnak with Shakotko driving in a game-high two RBI.
Game Two:
A two-run bottom of the first for the T-Birds allowed Cloud County to jump out to a 2-0 lead as Konings drove home Shakotko who was hit by a pitch before coming home to score himself on a pair of wild pitches. CCCC's lead grew to 3-0 in the bottom of the third as Konings once again continued his hot hitting by hitting another double on a rocket shot down the right-field line before coming around to score on a Poturnak RBI single with the middle part of the lineup providing the heavy lifting on offense. Southeast utilized a pair of back-to-back walks to lead off the top of the fourth to cut into the T-Bird lead as a single loaded the bases before a wild pitch and RBI groundout to bring home two Bobcat runs and cut the Cloud County lead down to one at 3-2.
The one-run deficit for Southeast turned into a one-run advantage in the following inning as the top of the fifth once again led to a crooked number for SCC with back-to-back walks to lead off the inning allowing the Bobcats to score on a double steal and throwing error followed by an RBI single to take their first lead of the afternoon. It was a short-lived lead for Southeast as Cloud County responded with an infield single by Konings on a ball hit to the first baseman to beat out a throw back to the pitcher and set up a Poturnak two-run home run on a ball that found its way over the right field fence that put CCCC back up 5-4. Turning the inning into a two-out rally following a groundout and strikeout, MaCleod's first at-bat of the game after coming in as a defensive replacement was a triple off the center field fence and followed by a walk for Meyer with a balk allowing both runners to advance to give the T-Birds a 6-4 lead heading to the sixth.
Things quieted down on the offensive end over the next three innings of play as the next six batters in the game for SCC were retired in order while CCCC was limited to just one hit in the form of a Poturnak double that was cut down after trying to extend the hit into a triple with a walk proving to be all that the T-Birds could muster in the seventh. With a chance to get back into the game with a leadoff walk and hit batter to begin the top of the eighth, the threat by Southeast was quickly put out as back-to-back flyouts occurred with the second flyout coming in the form of an inning-ending double play with Konings making a throw from right field to Poturnak at third to cut down the lead runner trying to tag up on the play.
One final opportunity to add some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, Cloud County saw
Paul Schuyler hit a leadoff single and move to second on a one-out balk before a strikeout and groundout that ended the inning and flipped momentum into the Bobcat dugout with the deficit remaining just two for SCC. Making another call to the bullpen, CCCC saw Southeast put a base runner on with a single before getting an infield single to put runners on first and second with just one out. A sacrifice bunt attempt led to another infield single for Southeast to load the bases with tension starting to rise in the third-base dugout occupied by Cloud County as a walk and single brought home a pair of runners in back-to-back plate appearances to tie the game at 6-6. The big blow came in the form of an Avery Moore two-RBI double as the Bobcats reclaimed the lead at 8-6 and forced a T-Bird pitching change with the damage having already been done as SCC went on to add three more runs in the inning and cap off a seven-run inning with seven hits to turn a 6-4 deficit into an 11-6 lead. Strikeouts from each of the first two batters for CCCC in the bottom of the ninth put Cloud County down to their final out rather quickly in the inning as a groundout ended the game and gave Southeast a come-from-behind win with the T-Birds dropping their first game of the year when scoring first.
Konings and Poturnak once again led the effort offensively for Cloud County by recording three hits each to account for six of the 10 total T-Bird hits with the other four hits being scattered across four different players. 10 stranded base runners proved costly for CCCC as missed opportunities to add to their lead throughout the game allowed Southeast to stick around and eventually put together the one big inning that was the difference in the contest. Six different pitchers were used in the game for the T-Birds with
Noah Bourgeois and
John Klus both throwing three innings and combining for seven of the 11 strikeouts recorded by the Cloud County pitching staff with nine walks and two hit batters loomed large throughout.
What's Next?
The series between Cloud County and Southeast will resume on Saturday, February 24th as Cloud County makes a return trip to Beatrice, Nebraska for a 1 PM doubleheader from Christensen Field. Saturday's games will be the first true road games of the season for CCCC as the first two games away from Lee Doyen Field this season for Cloud County came in neutral-site action in Edmond, Oklahoma.
