Baseball | 4/21/2025 1:42:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College baseball team split a road doubleheader with Butler Community College in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play on Friday, April 18. The T-Birds won the first game 9-5 in seven innings, before dropping game two 7-6 in nine innings. With the game one win, Cloud County earned the series win, 3-1.

Sophomore Noah Bourgeois got the start in game one, going 4.2 innings while giving up four earned runs on four hits and striking out three hitters. Redshirt freshman Hayden Malaise retired the only batter he faced in relief, while redshirt freshman Ben Soke threw the final two innings, limiting the Grizzlies to one run on two hits with three strikeouts.

Cloud County's offense had 13 hits in the game, highlighted by a grand slam from sophomore Gannon White. White, playing in his hometown of El Dorado, Kansas, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI in the victory.

Sophomore Nolan Freund and freshman Joey Marino had big games at the plate. Freund went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI, while Marino finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, one run scored and three RBI.

Redshirt freshman Luke Clayton also added a pair of hits, while freshman Kaden Budke had one RBI.

Cloud County led 6-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning in game two before the Grizzlies stormed back, tying the game with three runs in the eighth before walking off the game on a Jackson Ellison RBI single in the ninth.

The T-Birds had scored four runs through the first three innings and added two more runs in the fifth to get out to a 6-0 lead. Butler scored seven unanswered runs, beginning with one run in the fifth and two in the sixth to set the stage for their late-game comeback.

For Cloud County, Clayton and Marino both had two hit games. Marino had a home run and a double, scoring twice and finishing with two RBI. Freund also added two RBI in the loss.

Cloud County will host Doane University JV in a single non-conference game on Tuesday, April 22 at 1 pm. The game will be streamed live on the T-Bird Sports Network.