Baseball | 5/9/2025 10:02:00 PM

The No. 21 Cloud County Community College baseball team posted a 12-3 nine inning victory over Labette Community College in a game three, winner-take-all contest in the opening round of the 2025 NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 9 at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia.

With the win, Cloud County has improved to 44-15, which is the program's highest win total in 36 seasons. The 1989 T-Birds hold the record for the most wins in a single season with 46.

Cloud County now advances to the double-elimination bracket portion of the NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Tournament. The T-Birds, the tournament's No. 3 seed, will face No. 6 seed Kansas City Kansas Community College (37-20) at 10 am on Tuesday, May 13 at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, Kansas. The Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils swept Dodge City Community College in its opening round series, squeezing by the Conquistadors 12-11 in game one before earning an 8-4 victory in game two.

For the fourth consecutive year, Cloud County was pushed to a third game in its best-of-three opening round series. The T-Birds pounded out six home runs in a 15-6 home win over Labette on May 7, but the Cardinals put together a late rally with four runs in the ninth inning to escape with a 6-5 victory in game two on May 8.

Labette jumped on the board first in game three, scoring two runs on a single to left-center field by freshman David Daigle in the top of the second inning.

Cloud County battled back and plated two runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 2-all. Sophomore Austin Coyle led off the inning with an infield single. Redshirt freshman Matthew Evans followed with an RBI triple to left field, driving in Coyle. Evans later scored on an RBI ground out by sophomore Nolan Freund.

The T-Birds added two more runs in the fourth stanza to take a 4-2 lead. Sophomore catcher Cam Macleod scored on a passed ball, while freshman designated hitter Vasya Seymour reached on a fielder's choice before being brought home on an RBI single to left field by freshman short stop Lucas Laukkanen.

Labette sophomore Wiljerry Santiago-Torres delivered a one-out RBI single to left in the top of the fifth, driving in sophomore Gabriel Viera, to cut Cloud County's lead down to 4-3.

The T-Birds continued to go to work in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Sophomore Noah Konings led off the inning with a triple to center field. Freshman Joey Marino followed with an RBI single to left to score Konings. Macleod, the team-leader in home runs this season, then crushed a two-run home to left field for his 13th homer of the year, scoring Marino and giving Cloud County a 7-3 advantage.

Macleod, who is tied for seventh amongst all Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference players in home runs with 13, finished the game with three runs scored and two RBI.

The T-Birds put the game away with a five-run sixth inning. Evans reached on a one-out single to right field. Freund then doubled to right-center field to score Evans. Freund, a sophomore from Kingman, Kansas, has become one of the most productive hitters in Cloud County program history. The double marked Freund's 95th hit of the season, allowing the third baseman to surpass former T-Bird Demitri Shakotko for first-place on the baseball program's single-season hits leaderboard. Shakotko, a current member of the Southeast Missouri State University baseball team, had 94 hits in the 2024 season.

This season has been incredible for Freund, who earlier this month jumped passed Shakotko for number one overall in career hits at Cloud County. Through 59 games, Freund has a .454 batting average with 95 hits, 23 doubles, nine home runs and 71 runs batted in.

Following a pitching change for Labette, Konings was able to score Freund on an RBI single to right field. After Konings stole second before advancing to third base on a throwing error, he tagged up and scored for the second time in the game on a RBI fly out to center field by Marino to push the T-Birds lead to 10-3.

Macleod and freshman Kaden Budke then drew back-to-back two-out walks, prompting Labette head coach Alex Coplon to make his second pitching change of the inning. Freshman right-hander Adam Hilsheimer, pitching in his second game of the three game series, then walked Seymour to load the bases. Laukkanen followed with a single to left field, driving in Macleod and Budke to give Cloud County the nine-run advantage at 12-3.

On the mound, freshman Evan Bogart pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing no runs and no hits with three walks and one strikeout. Sophomore Myles Chamberlain pitched the scoreless eighth inning, retiring Labette in order. Sophomore Jack MacIntosh closed the game in the ninth, allowing no runs on one hit.

Freshman right-hander Kai Rempel started the game. Rempel threw five innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks while striking out three.

Coyle, Evans, Konings and Laukkanen had two hits each. Laukkanen added three RBI. Konings had a triple, two runs scored and a run batted in. Evans also had a triple, a stolen base and two runs scored. Freund and Marino had two RBI each, while Budke and Seymour each scored a run.

The T-Birds now prepare to meet up with the Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils in the NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament for the fifth consecutive season. The Blue Devils have won five of its last six meetings with Cloud County, with all five wins coming in the postseason. The T-Birds last beat KCK in their regular season finale in 2022, 6-3.

Live stats and video will be available through the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Fans can also listen to the game on 1390 KNCK, 98.3 FM and NCKToday.com, with Austin McNorton calling the action. Live updates will also be provided on the Cloud County Athletic Department's official X page @CCCCSports.

The winner of the contest will play either No. 2-seeded Johnson County or No. 10-seeded Fort Scott on Wednesday, May 14 at 4 pm. The loser of the game will player the loser of Johnson County and Fort Scott at 10 am on May 14.

The other side of the bracket is No. 1 Barton, No. 8 Coffeyville, No. 4 Cowley and No. 5 Hutchinson.