CONCORDIA – Dropping a one-run decision by a score of 4-3 in game one, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would bounce back with a 7-3 game two-victory to split a home doubleheader with Seward County Community College at Lee Doyen Field in Concordia on Thursday.
Splitting their opening Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division doubleheader, Cloud County is now 9-7 overall and 1-1 in the KJCCC while the Saints move to 4-8 overall and 1-1 in league play.
GAME ONE
A low-scoring affair would see runs put on the board in only three of the seven-innings played in the contest as Seward would strike for a pair of runs in the second to go along with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings while the T-Birds would score all three of their runs in the sixth. After going down in order in the top of the first, the Saints would respond with a pair of runs on a two-RBI double to right field from third baseman Richard Armijo to put SCCC up by a pair of runs through two innings of play.
Cloud County would go down in order in the bottom of the second before working around a leadoff single from the Saints in the third before stranding a pair of two-out baserunners in the bottom half of the inning as CCCC couldn't take advantage of Noah Olson getting hit by a pitch and Willie Ponce hitting a single.
Following a scoreless fourth, Seward would turn a hit batter into a run on a two-out double to extend their lead to 3-3 before seeing the T-Birds bounce back with the first four batters of the bottom of the fifth reaching base. After Jose Luna would draw a walk, Adler Pierson would send a single into right to put two on for Olson who would deliver with a two-RBI triple into the left center field gap as the SCCC lead would be cut down to just a single run. Olson would then come around to score on a wild pitch as the Saints would get out of the inning without any further damage after seeing Cloud County tie things at 3-3.
Seward County would waste no time reclaiming the lead, turning a leadoff walk into a run as a pair of ground outs and a wild pitch would allow Braden Boisvert to score the go-ahead run as CCCC would need some late-inning magic to keep the game alive. The T-Birds would get the game-tying run aboard in the bottom of the sixth before seeing the inning end on 6-4-3 double play as the Saints would escape the potential jam before working a scoreless seventh to pick up the win in the series opener.
Taking his first loss of the year on the mound would be freshman Kolby Dougan after giving up four runs on six hits while striking out six in 5.2 innings pitched while throwing 102 total pitches. Connor Woods would come in to record the final out of the sixth before seeing Javier Cruz throw a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts as the three pitchers would combine for eight strikeouts and just three walks.
Olson and Ponce would combine for four of Cloud County's five hits in the contest as Pierson would record the lone other hit by a T-Bird batter in the game. Olson would be responsible for two of the three extra-base hits in the contest as well as the only two RBI's for CCCC.
GAME TWO
Neither team would take long to get on the board in the second game of the afternoon as Seward County would strike first for a run in the top of the first thanks in part to a leadoff triple before seeing Cloud County take their first lead of the day in the bottom of the first on a Garrett Redden RBI double to score Olson and Jaden Parsons. The Saints would then tie things up in the top of the third with three singles before stranding a pair of runners to end the inning as CCCC would get the run back in the bottom half of the inning with three walks and a hit batter before adding another run on a Pierson sacrifice fly.
Scoring would continue in the top of the fourth as an RBI single would allow Seward County to get back within a run once again at 4-3 which is where the score would stay until the bottom of the fifth. Cloud County would put a runner on board by taking advantage of an error to start the fifth as a wild pitch and groundout would move Ian Riley to third with two outs. Pierson would then get hit by a pitch and purposely get caught in a rundown to allow Riley to score before the tag was applied as CCCC would take a 5-3 lead into the 6th.
The T-Birds would go on to add single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings as the run support would be more than enough as the Saints would go hitless in their final 13 at-bats of the game.
Picking up the win to improve to 1-1 on the year would be freshman Evan Wilde as the Airdrie, Alberta native would strike out nine in five innings of work while allowing just three runs on eight hits. Aaron Hayes would then throw a scoreless sixth inning before turning things over to Jayden Payne who would throw the final three innings and retire nine of the 10 batters faced to earn his first save of the year.
Olson would once again lead the T-Birds in the game by going two-for-four with a pair of runs scored and an RBI while Redden would finish two-for-three with an RBI of his own. Five other T-Birds would account for the remaining five hits as Redden would have the only two extra-base hits of the game for CCCC.
What's next?
Cloud County and Seward are scheduled to close out their four-game series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. With potential for rain in the Liberal area on Saturday, there is a chance that the conclusion of the series could get back moved back into early next week if Mother Nature does decide to play a role. If the decision is made to push back Saturday's doubleheader, it will be announced on www.cloudtbirds.com.