Cloud County Baseball Drops Both Ends of a Doubleheader to Butler

Free passes would lead to big innings of offensive production for host Butler Community College as the Cloud County Community College baseball team would drop both ends of a Saturday doubleheader by scores of 10-4 and 9-8 at McDonald Stadium in El Dorado, Kansas on March 25th.

Dropping the final three games of the four-game series, Cloud County falls to 15-13 overall and 6-6 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference following the defeats while Butler improves to 18-10 overall and 5-3 in the KJCCC West division while picking up their eighth and ninth home victories in 12 games this year.

GAME ONE:
After putting together a one-out walk and single that would be combined with a Grizzly error, CCCC would manage to push across two runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to an early lead for the second-straight game against BCC. Butler would respond by using a leadoff hit batter and RBI double to get one run back in the bottom of the first, but see two runners get stranded as an inning-ending strikeout would leave runners on the corners.

Stranding to runners of their own in the top of the second, Cloud County would see the Grizzlies manage to find a big inning in the bottom of the second as two walks to begin the inning would lead to a four-run inning on just two hits as two hit batters and another walk would be the bigger issues leading to offensive production for BCC. Suddenly trailing by a score of 5-2, the T-Birds would put together a two-out rally in the top of the third by taking advantage of two walks issued by the Butler pitching staff to go along with a balk and RBI infield single from Gavin Roy that would score Danny Infante to cut the Grizzly lead to 5-3.

Butler would manage to get the run surrendered in the top of the third back in the bottom of the inning as a strikeout on a wild pitch would put a base runner aboard before a walk and infield single to load the bases with just one out. BCC would then use a sacrifice fly to push across a run to go back up by three at 6-3 as the T-Birds would get out of the inning without allowing any more runners to advance.

Another two runners would be stranded by CCCC in the fourth to allow Butler to maintain their momentum that had been building from the previous two innings as the Grizzlies would tack on two more runs on a two-run home run to go up 8-3 after four innings of play. The BCC lead would grow with another two runs by Butler in the bottom of the fifth as a pair of RBI doubles would allow the Grizzlies to go up 10-3 as Cloud County would face their largest deficit of the series.

Following a scoreless sixth inning for both teams, the T-Birds would see their final opportunity to try and mount a comeback come with a little noise as a two-out rally would lead to a run as a potential game-ending strikeout would not be caught leading to an errant throw down to first to allow Infante to score from second. CCCC would then see Roy keep the game alive with a base hit back up the middle but have lead runner Landon Meyer cut down at the plate as the game would end with an out on the basepaths.

The four runs of offensive production by CCCC would come on 11 hits with Infante and Roy both recording three hits each while combining to drive in two of the four runs. Six strikeouts and six stranded baserunners would not help matters for the T-Birds despite defensively not committing any errors as seven walks and five hit batters would give the Grizzlies 12 free base runners in the game.

GAME TWO:
Needing to avoid giving up the big innings that had plagued them in each of the previous two games in the series, Cloud County would manage to keep Butler off the scoreboard for the first three innings of the game despite being held without a hit the first time through the lineup. In the top of the fourth, CCCC would see Roy draw a leadoff walk that would start a rally with four consecutive two-out base hits knocking out Grizzly starting pitcher Alan Benhardt from the game following two runs coming home safely and runners on the corners. A walk and hit batter would continue the inning for the T-Birds with another run coming home before a Paul Schuyler bases-clearing three-RBI double to cap off a six-run inning for Cloud County that would give CCCC their largest lead of the series at 6-0.

In similar fashion to what had just occurred in Cloud County's end of the fourth, BCC would use a leadoff single and two walks to put together a rally of their own. After a double-play that would put two outs on the board and get CCCC just an out away from getting out of the inning, a three-run home run by Butler would cut the six-run lead for the T-Birds down to three at 6-3.

The lead for Cloud County would be completely erased an inning later as the Grizzly offense once again would put up a crooked number with three consecutive hit batters with one out loading the bases and putting the game-tying run on base. A two-RBI single would be followed by BCC's second three-run home run in as many innings as the game would go from 6-3 T-Bird lead to an 8-5 Butler lead in the span of two batters.

Unable to turn a one-out single into anything in the top of the sixth, Cloud County would see BCC score for the third-straight inning as a walk would come around to score two batters later following a pair of wild pitches. CCCC would manage to get the run back in the top of the seventh with a solo home run from Meyer to score their first run outside of the six-run fourth before seeing a single and two walks come with two outs to load the bases and put the game-tying run in scoring position. After Butler would make their fourth pitching change of the game, a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch would end the inning with the bases loaded for the T-Birds as a prime opportunity would go wasted.

Despite leaving the bases load to end the top of the seventh, CCCC would manage to hold Butler scoreless in the bottom of the inning to start building momentum heading to the eight where two one-out singles and a walk would load the bases for the second-straight inning to force yet another Grizzly pitching change. After a fielder's choice that would bring home a run and move the game-tying run represented by Infante to third, Cloud County would load the bases again by seeing Brock Wollin draw a walk before another inning-ending strikeout to leave the bases loaded and allow BCC to continue to hold the lead.

Butler would go down in order in the bottom of the eighth as the door would remain open for Cloud County to try and finish their comeback by needing just one run in the top of the ninth to force the game to be extended. Unfortunately for CCCC, two strikeouts and a popout would end the game with the T-Birds being retired in order as six stranded base runners across the seventh and eighth innings proved to be extremely costly.

After drawing just eight walks total in the first three games of the series, Cloud County would manage to draw nine walks in the series finale to go along with nine hits leading to their eight runs despite only Wollin recording more than one hit for CCCC. The loss would mark the first time this season that the T-Birds would not be able to record a victory when scoring at least eight runs as free passes (six walks, three hit batters) and three errors would once again prove to be detrimental.

What's Next?
Cloud County will open a three-game week against non-conference foes on Tuesday, March 28th with a 2 PM home game against Cowley College at Lee Doyen Field. The game will be the sixth time in the past three seasons that the T-Birds and Tigers have met up, with Cowley winning the lone meeting last year by a score of 11-4 in Arkansas City on April 19, 2022. CCCC's last win against Cowley came on March 6, 2021 when the T-Birds secured a 9-8 home win over the Tigers.