Baseball | 4/12/2025 3:33:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College baseball team completed a four-game sweep over the Highland Community College Scotties in non-conference play on Friday, April 11. The T-Birds took the final two games in a doubleheader, winning game one by a score of 11-2 in seven innings and 14-4 in six innings in game two.

Cloud County has won eight in a row to improve to 31-11 overall. The T-Birds have recorded 11 doubleheader sweeps this season and have dominated the recent series with the Scotties, winning seven of the last 10 meetings.

The offense was clicking for Cloud County in game one. The T-Birds outhit the Scotties 14-6.

Cloud County wasted no time getting on the board, scoring one run in the top of the first inning when an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman Joey Marino scored freshman Lucas Laukkanen.

A solo home run by freshman Carter Cathers brought the score to 2-0 in the top of the third.

Cloud County's offense exploded in the sixth, adding six more runs, highlighted by RBI hits by Marino, redshirt freshmen Tony Crow and Matthew Evans, and sophomore Easton Mould.

The T-Birds weren't finished yet, pushing their lead to 11-0 in the seventh inning. Freshman Luke Clayton scored on a wild pitch, while sophomore Eric Bradicich crushed a two-run home run for his fourth homer of the season.

After being held scoreless for the first six innings, the Scotties got on the board with two runs in the bottom half of the seventh for the 11-2 final.

Cloud County sophomore Caden Marcum got the win, throwing four shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out eight. Sophomore Jack MacIntosh pitched two innings of scoreless, no-hit ball, while freshman Evan Bogart closed the game.

Sophomore Nolan Freund led Cloud County at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance with one double. Mould finished 2-for-4 with a double, one run scored and two RBI. Clayton went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Bradicich, Crow and Marino ended up with two RBI each.

A four-run third inning and a 10-run sixth inning lifted the T-Birds to a 14-4 win in game two.

Highland scored first when redshirt freshman Brett Burks led off the second inning with a solo shot.

Cloud County responded with four runs on three hits to take a 4-1 lead in the third. Freund drove in a run with an RBI single, while a double to left field by Clayton scored Freund, Bradicich and Evans. 

The Scotties got a run back in the fifth before Cloud County went on to score ten additional runs on three hits in the top of the sixth. The T-Birds loaded the bases to open the frame before Crow was hit by a pitch to score Clayton from third. Sophomore Cam Macleod scored on an RBI by Mould. With the bases loaded again, Freund was hit by a pitch, bringing in Cathers. Bradicich then reached on a walk to score Mould. Freshman Kaden Budke followed with an RBI single to score Evans. A throwing error allowed Freund to score from third. Following a pitching change by Highland, Macleod doubled down the left field line, driving home Bradicich and Budke. Cathers was hit by a pitch to load the bases again before Crow drew a one-out walk to score Clayton for the second time in the inning. The T-Birds capped the scoring with an RBI ground out by Mould, driving in Macleod for the second time in the frame.

Highland added two runs on one hit in the bottom of the sixth to fall by ten runs.

Freshman Cohen Nelson started for Cloud County, giving up one run on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Tyler Gagnon, Ben Soke, Collier Hestermann and Andrew MacNeil combined to pitch the final two innings, facing 14 batters and limiting Highland to three runs on one hit.

Cloud County delivered seven hits total, including two each from Freund and Clayton. Freund has had a hit in six straight games, including five multi-hit games. Freund had two RBI and finished the four-game series with Highland with 12 RBI. In his 2-for-4 performance, Clayton had a double and scored two runs with a game-high four RBI.

Macleod went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI. Crow and Mould also had two RBI each.

The T-Birds will now turn its focus back to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play as they head into a four-game series with Butler Community College. The series begins with a doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia on Thursday, April 17 at 1 pm.