CONCORDIA -- 13 runs on 15 hits would be more than enough offense for the Cloud County Community College baseball team in a 13-1, seven-inning home win over Southeast Community College at Lee Doyen Field in Concordiaon Tuesday.
Through seven games, Cloud County now holds a 7-1 overall record while snapping the four-game winning streak of the Storm who fall to 4-3 overall on the year.
"Today was a pretty complete effort and it was good to get another win in front of our home crowd" said head coach Eric Gilliland in a post-game interview. "We got a quality start out of Haden Dow on the mound and the offense was good up and down the lineup to produce 13 runs in seven innings of baseball."
Making quick work of things in the top of the first, Cloud County would waste no time on offense getting things going as an infield single and walk to lead things off would put two runners aboard for the T-Birds with no outs. Following a Clayton Loranger lineout, sophomore Ty Nelson would just miss out on a three-run home run as a long drive to right field would hit off the top portion of the outfield wall in what would become a long RBI single to score Alex Rice and put CCCC up 1-0. Griffin Larsen would then add the second infield single of the inning on a rocket shot to third base to load the bases to allow Noah Olson to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly. Trevor Stevens would drive in Cloud County's third run of the inning to stake the T-Birds to a 3-0 lead after one inning of play as an out at third on an aggressive base running play would end the inning.
A bit of a shaky second would see Southeast respond with a run on two hits and an error as a leadoff single, groundout, walk, and fielding error would load the bases with one out. The Storm would then get an RBI infield single on a comebacker to the mound that would go off of pitcher Haden Dow and get lost momentarily to allow all runners to advance safely, but the freshman would have a response by getting a strikeout and fielder's choice to end the inning and strand three runners in what looked to be a big inning for SCC. The next three-plus innings of baseball would go hitless as neither team would be able to move a runner past second as two runners would be cut down trying to steal to go along with two strikeouts.
More offense would be found by CCCC in the bottom of the fifth as a one-out rally would see Rice get things started with an infield single before Jaden Parsons would hit a single into left field. A Loranger double down the third-base line would see the ball end up in foul territory as the T-Birds would send Rice around to score and move Parsons to third as the score would become a 4-1 game with just one out and two runners on base. A pitching change for Southeast wouldn't do much good for the Storm as Nelson would just miss out once again on a potential three-run home run with a two-RBI double off the right field fence in a similar spot to his first as the game would finally be broke open. SCC would manage to get out of the inning without any more damage, with the T-Birds settling for three runs on four hits and stranding one runner.
It would be Cloud County's turn to make a call to the bullpen as Carl Aikman would come on in relief of Dow, making his second appearance of the year and getting some defensive help as a leadoff single would be erased by a 5-4-3 double-play. Southeast would then start to gain momentum with back-to-back singles and a hit batter to load the bases, but Aikman would shut things down with a fly out to center field to escape CCCC's second bases-loaded jam of the game and keep things a 6-1 ballgame.
Adding to their lead in the bottom of the sixth, Davis Pratt would hit a one-out double to put a runner on before an Ed Scott walk and Rice walk would load the bases with just one out. Parsons would move everyone up a base on an RBI single into left field to force another pitching change for SCC, with Loranger adding another blow on a two RBI single before advancing to second an a throwing error. The inning would come to an end on a strikeout and groundout, but the damage would be done as a four-run inning would turn a five-run lead into a 10-1 blowout in favor of the T-Birds.
Wanting to end things via run-rule, Cloud County would get a strikeout and pair of flyouts to retire Southeast in order in the top of the seventh and then put up three straight singles to lead off the inning and load the bases with no outs. Needing just one run to end the game, Scott would deliver with a bases-clearing RBI double into the right-center field gap and collect three RBI as the game would end with a 12-run Cloud County margin of victory.
Six players for Cloud County would record two hits each, with the top four batters in the lineup (Rice, Parsons, Loranger, Nelson) accounting for eight hits and seven RBI. Loranger and Nelson would each drive in three runs to go along with a three-RBI performance from Scott who would go one-for-three with one of Cloud County's four extra-base hits.
A dominant pitching performance would be put together by Dow and Aikman, with Dow going five innings to get the win and allowing just one run on two hits while striking out four of the 21 batters he would face. Aikman tossed the final two innings in relief and struck out one whiel allowing three hits in the two shutout innings.
What's next?
In a previously announced change to the weekend schedule, Cloud County is now slated to face off against Marshalltown Community College in a four-game series beginning on Friday at 1 p.m. Both Friday and Saturday will feature doubleheaders as Cloud County continues their seven-game home stand at Lee Doyen Field.
--cloudtbirds.com--