Cloud County Sports Information
CONCORDIA - After a slow start that would lead to a nine-run deficit as part of a 9-4 loss in game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would bounce back against visiting Colby Community College with their sixth shutout of the year to pick up a 7-0 win and split a doubleheader at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia, Kansas on Thursday.
Dropping just their seventh home game of the year in 26 games at Lee Doyen Field, the T-Birds are now 31-18 overall while moving to 16-10 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Colby now sits at 12-33 overall and 5-20 in the KJCCC.
Game one
After allowing a run to score in the top of the first on a two-out RBI single, Cloud County would see Colby maintain their lead into the top of the third when a leadoff double would set the tone for the Trojans and allow Colby to bat around with four-straight two-out hits leading to a five-run inning that would suddenly find CCCC in a 6-0 hole. Having stranded a pair of base runners in the bottom of the first, Cloud County would again wind up stranding a pair of base runners in the bottom of the third as a prime opportunity to try and respond to the big inning by Colby going by the wayside with a flyout ending the inning.
Three more runs would come across in the top of the fourth for the Trojans as a throwing error, walk, and single would load the bases to set up an RBI groundout that would be followed by back-to-back walks and a balk to bring home an additional two runs as three different T-Bird pitchers would be used in the inning. Facing their largest deficit since March 11th, CCCC would be held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth when a one-out single from Landon Meyer and Demitri Shakotko double would lead to a run after a Colby error in the outfield with Shakotko coming around to score in the next at-bat with Brock Wollin hitting a two-strike RBI single. Following the Wollin single, Anthony Taggart would draw a walk to put two runners on and continue the rally for Cloud County as momentum would finally start to swing in favor of the T-Birds until a strikeout looking to end the inning and see the rally end.
Another two runs would come across in the bottom of the sixth for CCCC following a scoreless top of the sixth for Colby as a Justin Johnson pinch-hit single and Alex Diaz single and error by the Trojans would bring home another run and lead to a runner at third with still nobody out. After a groundout to the pitcher, Meyer would hit an RBI groundout to score Diaz as no other threat would be posed in the inning by the T-Birds with the deficit sitting at five heading into the final inning of play. Cloud County would work around a two-out single in the seventh by the Colby before trying to put together a rally in the bottom half of the inning with two of the first three batters safely reaching base, but a strikeout and infield lineout would quickly put an end to things and allow the Trojans to close out the victory.
Finishing with 11 hits in the game, Cloud County would be led by a four-for-four effort at the plate by Shakotko while seeing Gavin Roy collect two hits to finish as the only other T-Bird with multiple hits in the game as 10 stranded base runners would prove extremely costly with clutch hits nowhere to be found. As a pitching staff, CCCC would strike out 11 Colby batters but give up nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits with just three of the 10 hits by the Trojans going for extra bases.
Game two
Re-grouping between games to try and rally the troops, Cloud County would make sure to avoid a similar fate in the back end of the day's action with a leadoff double for Roy in the bottom of the first and stolen base setting up an RBI groundout for Danny Infante to give CCCC their first lead of the day to go up 1-0 after an inning. Getting a one-two-three top of the second, the T-Birds would add to their lead in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out solo home run for Diaz doubling the Cloud County lead.
Following the home run by Diaz, both Phil Brennaman of Cloud County and Tyler Smith of Colby would lock in on the mound as the next eight consecutive batters would be retired in order until a one-out double for the Trojans in the top of the fourth that would ultimately wind up stranded at third following a popup in foul territory to end the inning. Strong pitching would continue on both ends as another stretch of 17 consecutive batters would be retired in order while seeing both starting pitchers work through the seventh inning.
In the seventh, Colby would threaten to get on the scoreboard as an infield single would put a leadoff base runner on before a two-out single to put the game-tying runner on base and force a mound visit from the Cloud County coaching staff. Giving Brennaman one more batter to try and get out of the inning, the Gladstone, Missouri native would do so by inducing a four-pitch strikeout to strand both runners and keep the 2-0 lead intact. The momentum-shifting that occurred on the strikeout would see CCCC take full advantage as a leadoff walk by Infante would be followed by a Shakotko double to put two runners in scoring position for Johnson who would extend the T-Bird lead with a sacrifice fly. An RBI single by Wollin would follow to bring home Shakotko as the lead would grow to a more comfortable 4-0 advantage for Cloud County to turn things over to the bullpen.
Getting a one-two-three inning from reliever Brady Stuewe in the top of the eighth, CCCC would see the offense break through again in the bottom of the inning as a one-out single for Roy along with two stolen bases and Taggart walk and stolen base would put two runners in scoring position with just one out. A sacrifice fly by Infante would bring home another run for Cloud County and be followed by a Shakotko RBI single to force Colby's second pitching change of the inning as the T-Birds would tack on one additional run before stranding a pair of runners to take a 7-0 lead into the ninth.
Not taking any chances, CCCC would send out closer Cole Askew to the mound to finish things out and preserve a potential shutout for the second-straight week. Working a strikeout to start his outing, Askew would then hit a batter before getting an infield popout and fielder's choice to end the game for their third shutout in conference play this season.
The late offensive surge would allow CCCC to finish with seven runs on seven hits as Shakotko and Roy once again would lead the way with multi-hit contests while Infante would drive in a game-high two RBI. A shutdown performance by Brennaman would see the sophomore match a career-high with nine strikeouts in a season-long outing of seven innings on 101 pitches while scattering four hits by the Trojans.
What's next?
A four-game road swing for Cloud County gets underway on Saturday as the T-Birds will make a return trip to Colby to play games three of four of their series with the Trojans. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday as CCCC will look for their first series victory over Colby since the 2018 season when the T-Birds took three of four games against Colby.