Cloud County Sports Information
CONCORDIA - Building a 6-0 lead after three innings of play, the Cloud County Community College baseball team would withstand a late rally from visiting Cowley College that would see seven Tiger runs come home over the final three innings of play before a game-ending strikeout with the bases loaded to preserve an 8-7 victory at Lee Doyen Field on Tuesday.
Bouncing back to snap a three-game losing streak, the T-Birds improve to 16-13 overall while picking up their second win over Cowley in the past four meetings between squads while the Tigers fall to 14-11 overall.
Facing an early jam in the top of the first after a one-out walk and two-out infield single to put a pair of runners aboard for Cowley. With the two runners on base, the Tigers would then draw a hit batter to load the bases but see an inning-ending groundout leave all three runners stranded as Cloud County would keep things scoreless heading into the bottom of the inning.
Taking advantage of a pair of one-out errors to put a base runner in scoring position, the T-Birds would put together a rally with a Demitri Shakotko infield bunt single before a hit batter to load the bases with just one out. CCCC would then push across an unearned run on a sacrifice fly to get on the board before an inning-ending strikeout that would leave things at a 1-0 T-Bird lead.
After getting a one-two-three inning in the top of the second, Cloud County would put together another rally in the top of the second as back-to-back walks to start the inning by Anthony Taggart and Karson Green would be followed by an Alexander Diaz fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt that would see all three runners safely advance to load the bases. Following a pitching change from Cowley, Gavin Roy would add to the T-Bird lead with an RBI infield single before a double play that would put two outs on the board but bring home another run for CCCC. The T-Birds would add one more RBI infield single by Danny Infante to cap off a four-run inning as Cloud County would take a 5-0 lead over Cowley heading into the third.
Another potential danger situation would present itself to the T-Birds in the top of the third as the Tigers would once again load the bases with two walks and a two-out hit batter but manage to get out of the inning on a line drive that would be caught by Diaz at shortstop to keep Cowley off the board. With momentum still in favor of Cloud County, the T-Birds would tack on another run in the third as a two-out walk and base hit single would lead to a run after Diaz would get caught in a rundown between first and second that would give Green enough time to break from third to home and score as a throw to the plate by Cowley would not be in time.
The 6-0 score in favor of CCCC would remain in place until the top of the seventh as the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings would go hitless with both teams combining to strand a total of three base runners that would reach on walks. In the top of the seventh, Cowley would manage to break through with three one-out walks setting up a two-RBI single and RBI single on back-to-back at-bats to cut the once six-run lead in half and get right back into the ball game. Looking to respond in the bottom of the inning, Cloud County would draw a leadoff walk from Infante before a Kolden Howerton RBI triple that would wind up just inside the first base bag and follow the right field line all the way to the fence to give the T-Birds one of the three runs back. Howerton would then score on a sacrifice fly by Taggart as CCCC would manage to get back two of the three runs given up in the top of the inning to hold an 8-3 lead heading to the eighth.
Having finally found some offensive momentum, Cowley would use a leadoff walk to score a run on a two-out RBI double that would come on a 3-2 pitch as the Tigers would continue to cut into the T-Bird lead. Cloud County would be unable to push across any runs in the bottom of the eighth as a Caden Walker double down the left field line would be erased after seeing the Topeka, Kansas native try to stretch things into a triple as the final two outs of the inning would come on the base paths with Roy being thrown out at second on a stolen base attempt after drawing a walk.
Needing just three outs to secure a victory, things would not come easy for Cloud County as a one-out walk and two-out fielding error would allow Cowley to put two runners on and extend the game for at least one more batter. Following a base hit that would load the bases to bring up the game-tying run to the plate, the Tigers would hit an infield single to extend the game yet again and be followed by a hit batter and walk to bring Cowley within a run at 8-7 with the bases still loaded. After falling behind 2-0 in the count, sophomore Cole Askew would come back with back-to-back pitches for strikes to run the count to 2-2 before throwing another ball that would put things at a full count. With the runners off on the pitch, Cowley's Jadyn McNealy would take a pitch on the inside corner of the plate that would be called strike three to end the game as the T-Birds would manage to survive the Tiger rally that would come up a run short.
Problematic pitching on both ends would see the two teams combine for 15 runs on just 12 hits while drawing a total of 18 walks (10 for Cowley, eight for Cloud County) and five hit batters with a total of 19 stranded base runners (13 for Cowley) adding to a wild mid-week contest. Six different T-Birds would each record one hit and drive in one run to account for the six hits recorded by Cloud County and six of the eight runs scored by CCCC with Walker and Howerton each recording an extra-base hit. On the mound, sophomore Phil Brennaman would improve to 3-0 on the year following five shutout innings of baseball while allowing just one hit and striking out three. Will Yamka and Askew would each throw two innings and strike out three runners each as the T-Bird pitching staff would record nine total strikeouts on the day.
What's next?
With an off week in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action, Cloud County will head to Chanute to take part in a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Neosho Community College on Friday. The Panthers have the bye week in the KJCCC East Division and are currently 22-6 overall following a home doubleheader sweep of the Ottawa University JV team on Tuesday afternoon.