CONCORDIA – The long ball would be working for the Cloud County Community College baseball team under clear skies on Sunday afternoon as the T-Birds would defeat Pratt Community College by scores of 11-8 (seven innings) and 8-4 to complete a four-game series sweep of the Beavers at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia.
The sweep allows Cloud County to improve to 15-11 overall and 7-5 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Pratt falls to 6-13 overall and 1-6 in the KJCCC. The sweep marks the first time since March 15-17, 2018 that CCCC has swept a KJCCC opponent in a four-game series.
Game one
Scoring runs in five of their six at-bats, the T-Birds would put up a series-best 11 runs in the opener on Sunday thanks in part to 10 hits while taking advantage of three Pratt errors to earn a series victory. The scoring would get started in the bottom of the first as Willie Ponce would hit a leadoff solo home run to right field to stake CCCC to a 1-0 lead before seeing the Beavers respond with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second as two errors would allow PCC to take a 2-1 lead heading to the bottom of the second.
Cloud County wasted no time getting things back to even as Williams Camacho-Soto would reach with a hit-by-pitch before seeing freshman Brock Hillebert hit an RBI double into the left-center field gap. An infield single from Jose Luna and Adler Pierson sacrifice fly would give the T-Birds the lead again at 3-2 as CCCC would go on to score two more runs with Jaden Parsons and Noah Olson each hitting RBI singles.
Both teams would go quietly in the third before seeing Pratt cut the T-Bird lead down to one at 5-4 as three-straight two-out singles and a wild pitch would bring home the runs to make it a one-run contest. Cloud County would return the favor however as a hit batter and walk to lead off the inning would put runners on first and second before a Parsons fly out to center field. Olson would deliver the big blow with a booming home run to right-center field as the three-run shot would erase the two runs scored by Pratt in the top half of the inning and allow the T-Birds to double up the Beavers at 8-4.
Another unearned run would come across in the top of the fifth for Pratt as CCCC would tack on two more runs with a wild pitch and fielder's choice in the bottom of the inning before going to get an RBI double from Ian Riley in the sixth to take their largest lead of the game at 11-5. Things would then become interesting in the seventh as each of the first three batters of the inning would safely reach base before an RBI single would bring home a second run and put runners on first and second with just one out. With the deficit cut to four and the game-tying run on-deck, Cloud County would turn to closer Rans Sanders who would finish off the final two-thirds of an inning with a sacrifice fly and strikeout to end the game and allow CCCC to preserve the victory.
Accounting for three of Cloud County's 10 hits would be Olson as the Omaha, Nebraska native would drive in four runs and scored once in his four plate appearances. Hillebert would also record multiple hits in the game, going two-for-four with an RBI and two runs scored.
On the mound, Carl Aikman would pick up his second win of the year after throwing five innings and allowing five runs (two earned) while striking out seven and allowing just five hits. Javier Cruz and Aaron Hayes would then work the next 1.1 innings before seeing Sanders get his third save of the year.
Game two
It would be two early runs from the T-Birds in game two as Cloud County would use a leadoff hit batter and pair of hits in the bottom of the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Pratt would get a run back in both the third and fourth-innings of play as neither team would be able to produce much offensively in the middle innings of the game as CCCC would leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth despite not recording a hit in the inning.
Both teams would strand potential go-ahead runs in the fifth before seeing Cloud County leave the bases loaded for a second time in the bottom of the sixth with a prime opportunity to break the game open gone by the wayside. PCC would be retired in order in the top of the seventh before turning to top pitcher and position player Cason Long to try and keep things tied in the bottom half of the inning.
Following a lead-off fly out to center field from three-hole hitter Olson, Riley would come up to the plate and break the tie with a solo home run to right field. Camacho-Soto would follow up with a stand-up double and Garrett Redden would be hit by a pitch to set things for pinch-hitter Hillebert who would take the first pitch he saw and blast a three-run no-doubt home run over the left-field fence to make it a 6-2 contest. The contagious hitting would continue in the inning as CCCC would wind up sending nine batters to the plate and score six runs on six hits and an error to take their largest lead at 8-2.
Needing to try and get some runs back before facing their final at-bat of the game, Pratt would manage to get a leadoff single and one-out two-run home run to cut the lead down to 8-4. A strikeout and groundout would end the threat however as Cloud County would manage to limit the Beavers offensively once again.
CCCC would see two batters reach base in the bottom of the eighth but have both erased on stolen base attempts as the two outs would be coupled with a strikeout to allow the Beavers to keep things at a four-run deficit. Pratt would once again make things interesting in the final inning of action as a leadoff double and walk would force the T-Birds to once again turn to Sanders as the Grand Island, Nebraska native came in and worked around a hit batter to load the bases to get two strikeouts and an infield fly to end the game.
The pinch-hit three-run homer for Hillebert would produce a game-high three RBI as CCCC would drive in six of the eight runs scored with Camacho-Soto finishing as the lone T-Bird with two or more hits. Seven other Cloud County players would account for the remaining seven hits as CCCC would be hit by a pitch seven times and draw four walks to find other ways to produce offensively.
Getting four innings of out starter Christian Womble, the T-Birds would then turn things over to Conner Woods who would go four innings and earn his second win of the year. Womble would allow just two runs (one earned) and strike out four on 71 pitches while Woods would allow two runs and strike out five of the 16 batters he faced. The save for Sanders would be his second of the day and fourth of the season as the freshman now ranks second in the KJCCC and 11th nationally in saves.
What's next?
Cloud County hits the road west to make the trek to Garden City to take on the Broncbusters in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday for their first games with GCCC since April 27, 2019. Garden City had the KJCCC West Division bye this past weekend and will take on the Oklahoma Panhandle State University JV team on Monday before hosting the T-Birds on Thursday.
--cloudtbirds.com--