Baseball | 3/1/2025 9:59:00 PM

The Cloud County Community College baseball team knocked off the No. 1-ranked team in NJCAA baseball, using two runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to surge to a 7-6 win against Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas on Saturday, March 1.

With his 259th victory in a T-Bird uniform, head coach Eric Gilliland surpassed Greg Brummett on Cloud County's all-time wins list, becoming the winningest coach in T-Birds history.

The T-Birds had nine hits, including three extra-base hits, and drew six walks in the victory. Freshman Kai Rempel earned his first win on the mound, working five innings and allowing two runs on three hits. Freshman Sam Brummond closed out the victory for his first save of the year, tossing one and two-thirds of scoreless baseball.

Cloud County was limited to just one hit through the first two innings. The T-Birds opened the scoring in the top of the third as sophomore Austin Coyle reached on a two-out walk. Weatherford then misplayed a fly ball to center field off the bat of redshirt freshman Matthew Evans, allowing Coyle to score from first.

Rempel retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a two-out walk to Blake Martinez in the bottom of the third. Trace Mazon followed by crushing a two-out, two-RBI home run to give the Coyotes the lead at 2-1.

Cloud County regained its momentum in the top of the fourth as redshirt freshman David Simmons led off the inning with a double. Sophomore Noah Konings found a hole through the left side of the infield, and his single moved Simmons to third. The T-Birds then executed a double steal that scored Simmons, tying the game at 2-all.

Sophomore Nolan Freund and Simmons both delivered back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth to add to the T-Birds' run total, putting Cloud County back in front at 4-2. 

Cloud County rode their momentum into the top of the sixth. Cloud County loaded the bases when Eric Bradicich, Cam MaCleod and Evans all reached on base on balls. Freund hit a two-out, two-run single to center, driving home Bradicich and MaCleod. Simmons then singled home Evans to give the T-Birds a 7-2 lead.

Weatherford fought back, tallying one run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh before getting a solo home run from Jax Marshall in the seventh and a two-run home run from Mason Ashlock in the eighth, cutting the deficit to 7-6. The Coyotes had the tying run in scoring position in the eighth, but Brummond closed out the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Weatherford again had the tying run at second base with one out in the ninth, but Brummond induced back-to-back flyouts to close out the ballgame.

Cloud County secured its only win in the three-game series against Weatherford after the Coyotes swept a doubleheader against the T-Birds on February 28, winning by scores of 5-4 and 8-7. The T-Birds have improved to 9-5 overall, while Weatherford drops to 15-2 after suffering its first home loss of the year.

Konings and Simmons both had three hits in the contest. Konings finished 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base. Simmons finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, one run scored, two RBI and two stolen bases.

Freund collected two hits with three RBI.

Gilliland, now in his ninth season as head coach at Cloud County, has won 259 games. He is one of three head coaches in Cloud County history with at least 200 wins, joining Brummett (258) and Jon Froelich (239). Interestingly, Gilliland was a collegiate player for Brummett during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Gilliland spent two years as a two-way player for the T-Birds, pitching and playing in the outfield. Gilliland earned Academic All-American honors in baseball while as a student-athlete at Cloud County. He later became a two-time All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) selection as a pitcher at Fort Hays State University, before playing professionally for three years in Independent Baseball. 

The T-Birds will open Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action on Thursday, March 6 with a doubleheader at Pratt Community College. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.