DODGE CITY, Kan. – For the fourth straight time, the Cloud County Community College baseball team came away with a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division doubleheader split with foe Dodge City Community College following a 9-2 win in game one before dropping game two by a score of 9-5 at Cavalier Field in Dodge City, Kansas on Thursday, March 28th.
The split moves Cloud County to 23-10 overall and 11-3 in the KJCCC West Division while seeing Dodge City now hold a 22-10 overall record and a 7-3 mark in the conference standings.
Game One:
Trading solo runs in the first inning, Cloud County jumped out to the early lead following a leadoff home run from
Paul Schuyler in the first at-bat of the game before being set down on three consecutive strikeouts to bring up the Dodge City offense which was able to push across a run on two hits and a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. With both teams being retired in order in the second, CCCC came back up to the plate in the top of the third where a
Landon Meyer double led off the inning and set up an
Austin Coyle RBI single to put the T-Birds back out in front as Cloud County added another run later in the inning on a
Demitri Shakotko infield single that was followed by a throwing error to allow Coyle to score from second. The 3-1 lead grew again in the top of the fifth as Meyer led the inning off with a hit-by-pitch followed by a Coyle walk and Schuyler single to load the bases with nobody out. Following a pitching change from Dodge City,
Easton Mould drew a walk to bring home a run before a Shakotko RBI single and
Nolan Freund two-RBI double that broke the game open for good.
Jakob Poturnak drove home one final run in the inning with a sacrifice fly as CCCC scored five runs on three hits to take their largest lead of the game at 8-1 to sit in full control of the series opener.
The Conquistadors were able to respond in the bottom of the fifth with a run following a leadoff walk that came around to score on an RBI groundout before stranding another runner as Dodge City was limited to just four hits through five innings. With nothing working offensively in the sixth, CCCC sent starting pitcher
Kevin Mannell back out for one final inning as the Topeka, Kansas native stranded a pair of DC3 runners in scoring position by inducing an inning-ending fielder's choice to get out of the jam and finish off his day on the mound. The T-Birds added one final run in the top of the seventh as Poturnak hit a one-out double followed by a pinch-hit RBI single from
Gannon White to make it a 9-2 game as
Myles Chamberlain came on relief in the bottom of the seventh and worked a perfect final half-inning to finish out the win for CCCC.
Totaling nine hits in the game, Cloud County saw four of their hits go for extra bases as Schuyler and Shakotko led the way with two hits each to go along with an RBI apiece. Freund drove in a game-high two runs while seeing Mould draw two walks in his only two plate appearances as four free passes and one hit batter helped the T-Birds offensively. Dodge City was limited to just five hits and stranded eight runners as Max Towchik was the only Conquistador to record multiple hits despite seeing two of the five DC3 hits go for extra bases. Mannell kept his perfect record on the mound intact with a six-inning outing by giving up two runs on five hits and striking out six while seeing Chamberlain strike out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.
Game Two:
An early deficit for Cloud County saw the T-Birds give up two runs on three hits to Dodge City in the bottom of the first before a three-run bottom of the second by the Conquistadors as CCCC fell behind 5-0 after two innings of play. Having stranded a pair of base runners in each of the first two innings, Cloud County again was held scoreless in the third after a one-out walk from Freund was stranded at second with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning which allowed DC3 to take a 5-0 lead into the fourth. Breaking through with a leadoff single from
Noah Konings followed by a
Cam MaCleod two-run home run two batters later, the T-Birds cut into the deficit to trail 5-2 before using a leadoff home run from Shakotko in the fifth to put together a three-run inning on two hits, a walk, and hit batter to tie the game at 5-5 at the midway point of the game.
Things remained a 5-5 deadlock throughout the rest of the fifth and all of the sixth with neither team able to produce any offense in their next offensive opportunities to send things to the seventh where CCCC was retired in order. The defensive one-two-three inning for Dodge City proved to bring momentum into the Conquistador dugout as DC3 got a leadoff double followed by a two-out two-run home run later in the inning to go back up 7-5 heading into the final two innings of play. A prime opportunity to respond in the top of the eighth by Cloud County was spoiled as a Schuyler one-out single was followed by a strikeout and Freund single to put runners on the corners with two outs and bring the go-ahead run to the plate in Poturnak before an inning-ending strikeout to strand both runners. Dodge City once again took advantage of coming up with the defensive stop as three-straight hits to lead off the inning brought home a pair of Conquistador runs to make it a four-run contest that proved to be too much for CCCC to overcome in the bottom of the ninth to drop the back end of the doubleheader.
Making up for the limited offense in game one was Dodge City as the Conquistadors pounded out 14 hits compared to eight by Cloud County as CCCC was led by Freund and Konings with two hits each. 11 strikeouts and 12 stranded base runners loomed large for the T-Birds as Cloud County was unable to make the most of five walks and four hit batters held off the scoreboard with timely outs by Dodge City.
Five different pitchers saw time on the mound for Cloud County in the game as
TJ Coats got the start and went two innings before turning things over to
Ethan Price who threw four shutout innings and took a no-decision.
Zach Sharshel was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs in the seventh despite striking out one while
Conlin Grady and
Wil Yamka combined to throw the eighth to finish out the time on the rubber for CCCC.
What's Next?
The series between Cloud County and Dodge City picks back up on Saturday, March 30th as CCCC will host the Conquistadors in a 1 PM doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field to close out a four-game series with DC3. The doubleheader will kick off a stretch of seven home games over the next eight scheduled contests for the T-Birds which will include a five-game home stand following a non-conference road game to begin next week.
