Baseball | 3/19/2026 10:48:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Cloud County sophomore Lucas Laukkanen's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth powered the Cloud County Community College baseball team to a 12-11 win against Colby Community College in game two of a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) doubleheader on Thursday, March 19 at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia.

The T-Birds (24-2, 9-1 KJCCC) smashed four home runs en route to a 13-3 opening win in five innings against the Trojans.

Cloud County can clinch their third consecutive 2026 KJCCC series with a win in Saturday's doubleheader at Colby. The T-Birds previously swept Pratt Community College in a four-game series before winning three of four in a series over Garden City Community College.

Laukkanen's walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth capped a thrilling back-and-forth battle with the Trojans.

Colby jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run by freshman Jake Brooks in the first inning. Brooks later led off the third inning with a single before being brought home on an RBI fly out by sophomore Turner Zdunich to give the Trojans a 3-0 advantage.

Cloud County redshirt freshman Simon Baker hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning, trimming the deficit to 3-2.

The T-Birds took the lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Laukkanen doubled to right field, scoring redshirt freshman Tanner Jacobson and freshman Broxton Barrientos. Sophomore third baseman Kaden Budke followed by mashing a two-run home run to left field, driving in Laukkanen, to make it 6-3.

Laukkanen launched a three-run homer to left in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Barrientos and sophomore Joey Marino, while Budke followed with a solo homer to extend the advantage to 10-3. Budke currently leads the T-Birds with 13 home runs this season.

Colby responded by plating five runs in the sixth, scoring a pair of runs off Cloud County errors, while sophomore Caden Clifford connected on a two-RBI double to center field before eventually coming around to score to make it 10-8.

Colby freshman Anthony Deblois hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the top of the seventh, enabling the Trojans to jump back in front at 11-10.

After being sat down in order in the sixth and seventh frames, the T-Birds had the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth but left all three runners on base.

Freshman right-hander Gage Gannon pitched the final 2.2 scoreless innings of relief for Cloud County, finishing with four strikeouts. Gannon punched out Colby sophomore Matt Murray to open the ninth. After Clifford reached on an infield single, Gannon managed to get Deblois to ground out into a 5-4-3 double play to close out the inning. Gannon faced the final nine Trojan batters to earn his third win of the season.

Colby sophomore closer Gabe Fournier struck out Marino to start the bottom of the ninth. Jacobson drew a one-out walk, before Fournier struck out Barrientos. Down to their final out, Laukkanen swatted his second home run of the game on an 0-1 pitch, putting the exclamation point on a memorable 12-11 win in front of the home crowd.

Laukkanen went 3-for-4 at the plate with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and seven RBI. Budke also collected three hits with a pair of home runs, three runs scored and three RBI. Baker drove in two with two hits including a homer, while Barrientos also tallied two hits with two runs scored.

Cloud County took game one in five innings, winning 13-3. Sophomore Stocton Timbrook pitched his third complete game, clocking five innings where he allowed three earned runs on five hits while striking out six batters. Timbrook, who has improved to 4-0 on the mound, has a team-leading 43 strikeouts on the season.

The T-Birds would fill up the stat sheet with 13 hits including four home runs. Baker went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI. Baker had an RBI double in the team's three-run first inning. Baker added a solo homer in Cloud County's six-run third inning, before ending the game on a lead-off solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth to give the T-Birds the run-rule victory. Baker, the designated hitter, now has 10 home runs on the year.

Laukkanen delivered a three-run home run in the bottom of the third, while sophomore first baseman Luke Clayton smacked a two-run homer in the fourth.

Clayton, who also drove in two runs with a single in the third, finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBI. Marino also registered two hits, including one double, while scoring two runs. Jacobson also recorded a double while driving in two.

The T-Birds will travel to Colby for two more KJCCC games on Saturday, March 21, beginning at 1 pm.