Baseball | 1/28/2026 10:03:00 AM
The Cloud County Community College baseball team has been picked as the preseason favorite in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) Baseball - West Division Poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.
The T-Birds, who reached their first NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament title game in program history last year, earned three first place votes and a total of 74 points to be named the preseason favorite. Hutchinson Community College also earned three first place votes and total of 69 points to be picked second. Last year's KJCCC - West Division regular season champions, Barton Community College, was picked to finish third with 67 total points and two first-place votes. Butler and Dodge City were both picked fourth with 45 points, followed by Colby (39 points), Seward County (29 points) with one first place vote, Garden City (20 points) and Pratt (17 points).
In 2025, Cloud County established a new program record for wins in a single season with 48, marking the team's third 40-plus win season in the last four years, capped off by an appearance in the NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament championship game. The 2025 season also saw the T-Birds shatter multiple program records, including games played (65), at-bats (2021), hits (681), runs (603), singles (435), doubles (143), runs batted in (545), and highest-fielding percentage (.970). Cloud County also secured their fourth consecutive top-three finish in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference - West Division by going 25-7 in conference play and sweeping three of their four-game conference matchups.
The Cloud County baseball team will open their spring season on the road in Tyler, Texas on Friday, February 6, playing Tyler Junior College and Arkansas State University-Mountain Home. The T-Birds will host their home opener on Thursday, February 12 against Kansas Wesleyan University JV. KJCCC play begins Thursday, March 5 with Cloud County hosting Pratt Community College.
The top four teams in the final regular season standings of the west division will earn the right to host a best-of-three series against one of the teams from the east division who finish fifth through eighth in their division with the winners advancing to an eight-team double-elimination tournament that is scheduled for May 13-17. The eight-team double-elimination bracket portion of the tournament is scheduled to take place at Eck Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University . The winner of the 2026 NJCAA Plains District Baseball Tournament will advance to the 2025 JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado May 23-29.
