Baseball | 5/17/2025 5:09:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Cloud County Community College baseball team was defeated in the 2025 NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament finals on Friday, May 16 at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, Kansas as No. 2 seed Johnson County Community College (51-11) claimed the region title with a 6-4 victory in nine innings. The Cavaliers will be making its third straight trip to the NJCAA World Series and the fifth overall in school history.

The T-Birds (48-17), the tournament's No. 3 seed, earned a spot in Friday's final after winning its fourth consecutive elimination game in the span of 51 hours with a 12-9 win in nine innings over Cowley College.

Johnson County grabbed an early 2-0 advantage following a two-run home run by sophomore Easton Roe in the bottom of the second inning.

Cloud County had a swift response when redshirt freshman Matthew Evans belted a solo home run to right-center field in the top of the third inning to cut the deficit to one.

The T-Birds then plated three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Freshman Joey Marino was the first to reach base on a one-out walk. Freshman Kaden Budke followed with a single to right field, advancing Marino to third base. Sophomore Eric Bradicich tied the game on a base-hit to right which scored Marino. Sophomore Cam Macleod posted a single to left to drive in Budke. Freshman Lucas Laukkanen collected the fourth hit of the inning on a single to left to score Bradicich.

Cloud County's lead was short lived. Johnson County scored two runs in the bottom half of the fourth. A sacrifice fly by sophomore Carter Kelley brought in Roe, while sophomore Ryker Edwards raced home on a defensive error to knot the game up at 4-4.

Edwards later homered to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting the Cavaliers back in front at 5-4.

The T-Birds left a combined six runners stranded during the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. They ultimately left ten on base for the ballgame.

In the bottom of the eighth, Roe homered for the second time on a solo blast to right field to make it 6-4.

Johnson County freshman pitcher Keston Holman retired all seven batters he faced, including retiring the side in the top of the ninth, to close the game and seal the championship win for the Cavaliers.

Sophomore Noah Bourgeois suffered the loss for Cloud County. Bourgeois, making his third appearance on the mound in the tournament including his second appearance on Friday, pitched 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Sophomore Aaron Boutz started the game for the T-Birds. Boutz, making only his second start of the year, threw the first three innings, giving up three earned runs on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

Freshman Cole Linton, the 2025 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division Pitcher of the Year, faced the final two batters, allowing one hit.

Cloud County out-hit Johnson County, 8-6. Budke led the way, going 2-for-3 with one run scored. Sophomore Noah Konings had a double, marking his fifth extra-base hit of the tournament. Evans homered for the eighth time on the year, while Bradicich, Laukkanen, Macleod and Marino finished with one hit each.

The loss followed Cloud County's thrilling 12-9 come-from-behind win over Cowley College earlier in the day. Trailing 5-0 entering the bottom of the third inning, the T-Birds scored five runs in the frame, highlighted by a grand slam by Konings, to tie the game at 5-all. Laukkanen and sophomore Austin Coyle later added home runs of their own as the T-Birds scored one run in the fourth, two in the fifth, and four more runs in the sixth to capture the win.

Freshman Evan Bogart stepped up and threw five complete innings out of the bullpen, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with two walks and six strikeouts to earn his second win of the season. Bourgeois captured the four out save, striking out two over the final 1.1 innings.

All nine Cloud County batters recorded hits in the win, led by Laukkanen and Konings who had three hits apiece. Konings also scored three runs and had four RBI.

Konings along with Bradicich and sophomore pitcher Myles Chamberlain were named to the 2025 NJCAA Region 6 Plains District All-Tournament Team, which was announced after the region championship game. For the tournament, Konings hit .583 at the plate with a grand slam, four doubles, nine runs scored and nine RBI. Bradicich batted .467 for the week with seven hits, three doubles, five runs scored and 11 RBI. Chamberlain pitched 7.1 innings, allowing no runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in the team's 7-3 win over Fort Scott Community College in an elimination game on May 14.

Cloud County finishes the 2025 season with its most wins in program history, reaching the NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament final for the first time in school history.