Cloud County Sports Information
CONCORDIA - Coming off a series-opening split on Thursday and in need of one victory in their final two games of the regular season to secure a home playoff series next week, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would take care of business in Game One of a home doubleheader against Dodge City by earning a 9-1 victory before falling 12-9 in Game Two for their second straight doubleheader split on Saturday.
Ending their 55-game regular season schedule with a 35-20 overall record, Cloud County finishes Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play by reaching the 20-win mark for the second-straight year to finish 2012 in the KJCCC. Dodge City finishes the regular season at .500 with a 28-28 overall record and a 17-15 mark in the KJCCC West to finish fifth in the division after having a chance to host a home playoff series entering the day.
Game One
Scoring two early runs in the bottom of the first, the T-Birds would use a leadoff hit by pitch and Gavin Roy double to put a pair of runners in scoring position to set up a Danny Infante sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to bring home the two runs on a hit to grab an early lead while scoring in the first inning of a game for the 28th time on the year. The lead for CCCC would grow an additional run in the bottom of the second as a two-out inside-the-park home run from Landon Meyer would see the Lincoln, Nebraska native put a deep fly ball off the top of the center field fence and take a large bounce back into the field of play to make his way around the bases and make it a 3-0 contest.
Following a scoreless third that would see Cloud County strand a two-out single from Infante, Dodge City would get on the board with back-to-back hits to begin the inning leading to a run on an RBI double into right-center field before seeing a lineout and flyout end the inning with the game-tying runs stranded in scoring position. A response from the T-Birds would follow in the bottom of the inning as a hit batter to lead off an inning for the second time would be followed by a successful hit and run by Kolden Howerton to move Anthony Taggart to third to set up a sacrifice fly. After seeing the Conquistadors make a pitching change to try and keep the deficit at three, CCCC would get a two-out RBI double from Karson Green to drive home Howerton to extend the lead with the score moving to a 5-1 margin in favor of the T-Birds.
Settling back in by facing the minimum in the fifth, Cloud County starting pitcher Jack Mount would close out a 63-pitch outing by allowing just four hits as the T-Bird offense would be held scoreless in the bottom of the inning to see CCCC make a call to the bullpen to bring in Brady Stuewe. Running into a two-out jam after a base-hit and hit batter, the Topeka, Kansas native would get a strikeout to end the inning to strand another two DCCC base runners to keep momentum in favor of Cloud County heading into their final opportunity at the plate.
Run support would come in a big way in the bottom of the sixth as Cloud County would add to their lead with a four-run inning off two hits. After a strikeout to begin the inning, the Conquistadors would allow three walks and a hit-by-pitch follow to bring home a run and keep the bases loaded for a sacrifice fly from Schuyler. With the score sitting at 7-1 in favor of CCCC, the T-Birds would get RBI singles from Infante and Wollin to add to the lead before seeing the inning end on the base paths with Infante trying to go from first to third on the RBI base hit by Wollin.
In the top of the seventh, Dodge City once again would threaten to try and create momentum by putting two of their first three base runners aboard against new reliever Cole Askew, but back-to-back strikeouts would end the game to take the pressure of the T-Birds heading into the regular season finale.
Spreading seven hits across five batters, CCCC would be led by a two-for-three performance from Infante to go alongside a game-high two RBI from the Brooklyn, New York native. Of the seven hits for Cloud County, three would go for extra bases as the T-Birds would strand just three runners and limit strikeouts to only four while drawing four walks and three hit batters. Mount would pick up his sixth win of the year to move to 6-3 in his five-inning outing while seeing Stuewe (two strikeouts) and Askew (three strikeouts) add to the staff total of eight strikeouts in the contest.
Game Two
A difficult start to the game for Cloud County would see three errors and three hits for Dodge City lead to a four-run top of the first for the Conquistadors as the T-Birds would face what would be their largest deficit of the series up to that point. Only two of the four runs coming across in the inning would be earned runs with the defensive miscues creating a much more difficult hole for CCCC to try and dig out of. Trying to respond in their first chance at the plate, Cloud County would get a Roy leadoff double down the right field line which would lead to a run on an Infante RBI single to try and create momentum, but a flyout and groundout would end the inning with just the one run coming across for CCCC.
Another run for the T-Birds would be seen in the bottom of the second as a one-two-three top of the second would make way for a Howerton leadoff home run with Cloud County also picking up a single run in the bottom of the third on a Taggart RBI single to score Infante from an earlier one-out triple to cut a once four-run deficit down to just one. Opting to make a change on the mound, CCCC would bring in reliever Blayne Fritcher for the fourth where Dodge City would get a solo home run from eight-hole hitter Cole Babich to push their lead back to two innings before working a scoreless bottom of the inning following a pitching change of their own.
Things would take another turn against Cloud County in the top of the fifth as DCCC would use a one-out single and walk to set up a three-run homer that would push the lead out to five at 8-3 and have some additional run support to work with. Coming up with responses offensively throughout the game through the first four innings of play, the T-Birds would once again string together some run support of their own with the top of the lineup due up as Roy would draw a leadoff walk that would be followed by a walk for Meyer. After a flyout and double steal by CCCC, Wollin would find the left-center field gap to bring home both runners on a two-RBI triple before seeing Taggart send a pitch to the left-field fence that would lead to an RBI triple to continue the rally for the T-Birds.
With the once five-run deficit now down to two at 8-6, CCCC would see Dodge City elect to make another pitching change to bring in their second reliever of the game with a Howerton single bringing home Taggart to cap off a four-run inning that would pull Cloud County back within a run at 8-7 heading into the sixth. Defensive woes would again find the T-Birds in the top of the sixth as two walks and a single to begin the inning would lead to a run for the Conquistadors before a big double play to get CCCC just an out away from limiting the damage to just one run. Unfortunately for Cloud County a throwing error on what would appear to be a relatively routine ground ball would bring home another unearned run and allow Dodge City to plate their 10th run of the game as the back-and-forth on offense would continue.
Unable to utilize a leadoff walk by Logan Scully, CCCC would manage to work a scoreless top of the seventh with Mason Munz on the mound but be retired in order following the seventh inning stretch. Getting a one-two-three top of the eighth, Cloud County would finally start to figure out Conquistador reliever Caden Norman by putting together a two-out rally with a walk and hit batter setting up a Meyer RBI single to put the game-tying run on base. Following the RBI single, Dodge City would get an inning-ending fielder's choice to strand both runners to hold a two-run lead heading into the ninth.
Just like previous innings in the game, the Conquistadors would find a way to make life a little more difficult once again for CCCC as a solo home run would push across a run to make things a three-run game again before a walk that would come around to score on a two-out single to create a four-run deficit for the T-Birds. With the middle of the order due up, a leadoff walk for Wollin would be followed by a single by Taggart to start a rally that would see a popup in foul territory slow things down momentarily. Calling on pinch-hitter Justin Johnson, the Nunica, Michigan native would deliver with an RBI double to bring Wollin around to score and put Taggart at third while seeing Jarek Braden step up to the plate while representing the game-tying run. Working a walk on a 3-2 count, Braden would take a free pass to load the bases and continue the T-Bird rally until a strikeout and flyout that would end the game with the game-winning run at the plate in the final two at-bats of the game for CCCC.
Missed opportunities with 10 stranded base runners and three unearned runs would ultimately prove to be the difference in the game as Cloud County would outhit Dodge City 12-9 and see seven of their 12 hits go for extra bases. Leading the offense would be a three-hit effort from Taggart while finishing as one of three players for CCCC to finish with two RBI alongside Wollin and Howerton. On the mound, a 15-strikeout game from the Cloud County pitching staff would come off five different arms as Cayden Castellanos (four), Fritcher (one), Carson Latimer (one), Munz (six), and Scott Rienguette (three) would all throw at least one inning.
What's next?
The official bracket for the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Plains District Tournament will be released in the coming days with Cloud County earning the third seed in the KJCCC to host the sixth seed out of the KJCCC East Coffeyville Community College. The best-of-three series is scheduled to get underway on Wednesday afternoon, with game two scheduled for Thursday, and an if-necessary game three taking place on Friday. Since the 2001 season, Cloud County and Coffeyville have met on the diamond only twice with the Red Ravens winning neutral-site contests in February of 2020 and February of 2022. Coffeyville finished the regular season with a 27-29 overall record and a 13-19 mark in the KJCCC East after dropping their final three games against Neosho to end the regular season.