Baseball | 4/28/2025 10:52:00 PM

Box Score Four home runs, including a grand slam by redshirt freshman Matthew Evans, powered the Cloud County Community College baseball team to a 13-7 series-clinching victory in nine innings over Colby Community College at Young Memorial Field on Monday, April 28.

The game was first paused April 23 due to inclement weather with the T-Birds leading 3-1 at the end of the second inning.

Cloud County set the tone early, as the T-Birds scored two runs in the top of the third inning on a home run by sophomore Gannon White. Freshman Lucas Laukkanen led off the fourth inning with a solo shot to give the T-Birds a 6-1 advantage.

After giving up two runs on an error in the bottom half of the fourth, Cloud County answered by scoring one run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by sophomore Nolan Freund that scored Laukkanen.

Colby wouldn't go away quietly. The Trojans scored four unanswered runs to tie the game at 7-all. Freshman Matt Murray led off the sixth inning with a solo home run. Freshmen Turner Zdunich and Charlie Langford collected RBI hits in the bottom of the seventh, while an RBI ground out by Langford in the bottom of the eighth scored freshman Jacob Mraz to knot the game.

Cloud County, which won the first game of the series 5-1 on April 23 before splitting a doubleheader with the Trojans at home on April 26, opened the top of the ninth with sophomore Eric Bradicich recording a lead-off single to right field. Sophomore Cam Macleod was then hit-by-a-pitch. After White grounded out to short, Colby intentionally walked sophomore Easton Mould to load the bases with one out. The Trojans were able to get sophomore Austin Coyle to strike out, but Laukkanen was able to draw a two-out walk to score Bradicich. Evans then launched a grand slam to right field for his sixth home run of the season, driving in Macleod, Mould and Laukkanen to put the T-Birds up 12-7. Freund capped the six-run outburst with a solo home run, his eighth long ball of the season.

With the win, Cloud County has recorded its sixth Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference series win of the season. The T-Birds have won six of seven series in 2025, improving their record to 38-13 overall and 21-7 in KJCCC action.

Cloud County's final non-conference game is slated for Tuesday, April 29 when the T-Birds host Southeast Community College for a single, nine-inning game, beginning at 3 pm. The T-Birds previously beat the Bobcats 6-3 in nine innings on April 8. The contest will be livestreamed on the T-Bird Sports Network.