Baseball | 5/8/2026 6:11:00 PM

Box Score Behind sophomore pitcher Cohen Nelson and six home runs from six different players, the No. 2-seeded Cloud County Community College baseball team advanced to the double-elimination bracket portion of the 2026 NJCAA Division I Plains District Baseball Tournament with a 12-2 win in eight innings over Highland Community College, completing a two-game sweep of the Scotties in their opening best-of-three series on Friday, May 8.

The T-Birds set a new record for wins in a season with 49 so far, topping the previous mark of 48 wins set in 2025.

The team is now 49-5 on the season and will face the winner of this weekend's winner-take-all third game between No. 7 Fort Scott Community College and No. 10 Barton Community College next Wednesday, May 13 at 1 pm at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kansas.

Fort Scott won the first game in its series with Barton 7-1 on Thursday, May 7, before Barton squeezed by with a 2-1 victory in game two on Friday, May 8. The Greyhounds and Cougars will meet in a decisive game three Saturday, May 9 at 1 pm at Lions Field in Fort Scott, Kansas.

After pummeling Highland with 25 runs on 19 hits, including four home runs, in a 25-10 victory on Thursday, May 7, pitching was the most impressive part of Friday's win for Cloud County.

In his second career postseason start, sophomore Cohen Nelson took a perfect game into the sixth inning of Friday's eventual 12-2 win. Nelson began the outing by striking out ten of the first 16 batters he faced. He matched his career-high with 11 strikeouts.

Nelson lost the perfect game and the no-hitter when he gave up a one-out home run to freshman short stop Sam Massey in the top of the sixth inning. Nelson faced seven batters in the sixth, giving up two more hits, including a two-out RBI single to center by sophomore designated hitter Connor Nowak.

Nelson's final tally: two runs, one earned, on three hits with one walk and 11 strikeouts. The left-hander out of Grand Island, Nebraska has improved to 6-0 on the year and has four double-digit strikeout games in his last five starts.

Sophomore Cole Linton closed the game with two scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Linton registered four strikeouts.

Sophomore short stop Lucas Laukkanen provided the game-ending hit with a two-run home run to left field, scoring sophomore third baseman Kaden Budke in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Redshirt freshman outfielder Simon Baker had the hot bat on Friday, finishing with three hits, including a double, a triple and a home run. Baker drove in a team-high four runs and scored twice. Budke and sophomores Joey Marino and Vasya Seymour all had two hits. Cloud County scored 12 runs on 13 hits.

The T-Birds scored two runs in the second inning on back-to-back two-out home runs by Seymour and redshirt freshman outfielder Tanner Jacobson. Redshirt freshman Kellan Burke then added a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. Cloud County posted a five-spot in the sixth, highlighted by a lead-off solo home run by sophomore first baseman Luke Clayton and a two-out grand slam to right field by Baker. Seymour added a two-out RBI single in the seventh.

Cloud County now advances to the bracket portion of the NJCAA Division I Plains District Tournament for the fifth straight season. This year's tournament is being hosted at Eck Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University.